Last week we looked at adult blogs, which mostly revolve around politics, culture, education, technology, photo sharing and other interest groups. This week, let's look at MySpace.com, a blog-like online world that's a favorite among teens today.

A week or two ago a CNN segment caught my eye that spoke of out-of-control teens on MySpace, chatting about drinking, drugs and wild parties their unsuspecting parents knew absolutely nothing about.

The story featured an innocent-looking, 16-year-old girl-next-door, now 18 and recovering after therapy, who spoke on her MySpace pages about drinking at wild parties and passing out.

CNN was hoping to make the case that MySpace homepages were a force driving these dangerous, teenage behaviors. I wondered if they had a point.

Googling found some insight I could draw upon. First, I found a Boston Globe article that seemed to bolster CNN's case: The kind of social networking that takes place on MySpace is inherently risky, the Globe report contended, with underage girls exaggerating their ages and posting photos in which they appear scantily clad, barely in line with MySpace ground rules that prohibit nudity or the posting of addresses or phone numbers.

Also interesting about the Globe article was that its reporting was driven by the concerns of Boston area principals of middle and high schools. They worried that teenagers were in danger of becoming overexposed and vulnerable to predators.

I'm sure if I continued to Google on the subject, I'd find a lot pro-and-con opinion and reporting by parent groups and media outlets, pressing the need to be concerned about the potential for dangerous liaisons developing at MySpace.

I admit I'm philosophically predisposed to more freedom and trust for our kids, even though as a high school teacher I'm painfully aware of that vulnerable gap between childhood and adulthood where teenagers model adult behavior to demonstrate maturity but sometimes fail miserably because they end up misbehaving like kids.

I was delighted, though, that my Googling snared the unedited transcript of a talk by Ph.D student Danah Boyd of the UC Berkeley School of Information Management and Systems called "Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace."

Danah Boyd's thesis is quite simple and explains much of what mystifies parents and school principals about MySpace's allure: Teens flock to online places like it because it gives them a place to congregate and check each other out.

One reason why teens like to check each other out is that they're undergoing a process called identity production. They're figuring out who they are and trying out different skins along the way. When they see one they like, they try it on. If it works for them, they stay with it. If they find a better one, they move on.

We've all done this at one time or another. When I was a kid, I did it at the beach, at Saturday night dances at the Pasadena Civic or cruising Colorado Boulevard.

Kids today don't get to do as much of that because parents are a little more worried about the predators roaming our neighborhoods. Instead, they congregate in what Boyd calls "digital publics" like MySpace.

It's no wonder teens head for a place they can hang out without parents standing over them and stressing. And MySpace provides a number of things youth like.

First, with photos posted to MySpace, kids can see how people dress. With the written profiles, teens can check out each other's likes and dislikes. With the "friends" links -- in which members can place linked pictures on their homepage of people they've invited to be friends -- teens validate each other and it makes them feel valued and cool.

They can also comment on each other's profile and photos, jockey for social status and learn to deal with popularity. With built-in instant messaging, they can trade ideas, expand their social network or just chill.

This social networking, this hanging out, is not a waste of time. It's what helps them become who they are.

Along the way, there may be some risks, as with any endeavor where people are involved. Girls on MySpace do report running into some creepy characters but also report that they're easy to spot. The girls say they "just delete them."

Of course parents and educators are wise to keep an eye on their charges. But just as important is keeping our distance while our kids form their identities in the new digital public spaces. They don't want us there because it's their space. It's where they grow up. We should forgo moral panic and let them do it.

I'd like to thank Danah Boyd for letting me rifle through her well-researched insights. Read the paper at www.danah.org/papers/AAA52006.html and check out her Web presence, starting at www.danah.org.

E-mail Calvin at calross@napanet.net