I felt that I needed to touch on an important issue when it comes to Second Life especially since it is such a major part of the new life of this realm nowadays. Although most people know that teenagers roamed this world long before they were allowed on this one because for some reason they didn't think Teen Second Life was good enough for them. Adults like myself feared the day that the teen grid would be closed and an onslaught of teens would be taking over the main grid we all felt fairly safe to be adults with no worries. I have spent less time on Second Life in the past months and tend to only come on when I have a job to go to. However I have thankfully not dealt with anyone who has been acting like a teenager which most don't allow themselves to show off their age. Just because they don't seem like teenagers doesn't mean that you aren't in the midst of one. I've come to be extremely cautious in this virtual world in the knowledge that sadly a lot of people on here lie beyond belief. The one way to protect yourself when you get close to anyone is to test them in ways that will either make you relax knowing someone is most likely an adult or make you weary that they are a teenager. I usually start by asking them questions about their real life and usually that entails if they would be willing to show their real life picture or talk to you on some sort of messenger to show themselves to you at least once on a webcam. You cannot know if someone is an adult or not simply by voice chatting with them due to teens soundly quite adult. All you have to do is think back to when you were a teen and see that your voice has not changed that much since your teen years. As adults, we tend to forget all we would want to do as teens simply because we were told we weren't allowed to do such things. I think that is why teens were on the main grid before they were officially let into here. It used to be that I felt safest in adult labeled sims but believe me you ain't safe from teens on those sims either. I put the blame on teens accessing specially adult sims onto the heads of the ones who created Second Life. No I am not slandering them. If you go to account manager on the site then you will see that anyone who gets a premium account is automatically allowed into adult sims even though people who don't have premium are expected to use the age verification page. Personally I think that is biggest flaw in Second Life since they forget about our sanity and safety. Any teen can find a way to get a premium account which is in most cases illegal but like that ever stopped anyone when they desperate. I feel strongly that teenage users on Second Life should wear teen shapes to define themselves more as teens so we can know they ain't adults right off. They should also be honest and at least say they are a teen in real life in their profiles. No adult should go through the headache of getting close to a teen when they didn't know they were one in the first place. As mean as it will sound, Second Life main grid belonged to the adults first so we should get respect. I was taught decades ago to respect my elders so I expect teens on this grid to respect me and the other adults on here. When I speak of teens in this blog, I am pertaining to the ones who are under 18 years of age. I feel if you are 18 or 19 years old then you are considered an adult. I don't want anyone under 18 years old anywhere near me on Second Life unless you are an adult who is playing a child avatar which is totally different. I have written this blog for not only the adult users to read so they more cautious but also for the teens so they know not to lie to us adults. Teens have school to meet new friends and such but as adults it is sometimes harder to make new friends in real life unlike how simple it is at times online to meet new people. Just be careful out there while hanging out at clubs and such because who you think is honest to goodness an adult may not be.
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