What Parents Don’t Know About How Their Kids Use Facebook, MySpace

Reader Comments
Back to blog

THERE,S A NEW SITE THE LINK IS WWW.fbfk.COM
THIS IS SAFE FOR KIDS NO games like yovile NO BAD GAMES JUST sign up now NO PAYING THIS IS FREE GO ON NOW AND HAVE A FREE FROM ADULT FACEBOOK I HAVE A acount THIS IS NO JOKE LINK www.fbfk.com

TYLER of TX 5:09PM August 22, 2011

FarmVille Bot This Bot does everything for you. such as, plowing, planting, harvesting, all animals and trees. Also does some sweet missions that get you money, Levels your farm really fast. I Went from lvl 27-60 in about a week and a half.http://www.envirofile.org/download/33857

Farmvillebot of AL 6:50PM May 10, 2010

I agree with so many of you here. I found this thread via Google because my son and I were discussing why his friends have Facebook pages and he cannot have one. My reason to him was that there are other people [strangers] online playing games and using applications that can gain access to him and to his information, even with the privacy features used. Kids should never be able to access the Internet outside of school (where safeguards are set up) without a parent monitoring their activity. I'm not saying you should not trust your child. I am saying you can't trust the people on the other side. 6 years ago, one of my other kids was playing a harmless word game online via a site where a registration was required. 5 weeks into playing the game regularly after school an adult male called our home from a blocked number and asked to speak to him. The registration only required a city, state, & zip code and name. That information was supposed to be private, but was apparently accessible to the caller and was enough information for him to find a way to reach my son.

Ano Nymous of AL 3:01PM January 16, 2010

my naems julia and lydia is sweeet

julia of NV 11:25AM January 05, 2010

Giving kids all dat junk is like handing them a loaded gun!!! Some are ready, but most aren't Parents don't care as long as kids have their way!! Dangerous!!!

rich kindle of AZ 4:07PM December 18, 2009

I enjoy reading your blog. Thanks., Have a Great day. Your layout on my fist web http://forex-true.org

Dot usef of AL 12:33PM December 11, 2009

I think that parents need to trust their kids. IF they taught them how to protect themselves and not make fun of others, then there is no need to follow their every step. Teens, like myself, use facebook and other social networks to get in touch with others. It is a fun way to talk to people. I am a teen writer at RadicalParenting.com which is a parenting blog from the kid's perspective there are 60 teen and tween writers run by teen author, Vanessa Van Petten. We just posted a video of "Why do Teens Use Social Networking Sites?" here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6YT6sEDZiE
and would love for you to check it out and tell us what you think or repost if you like it,
Cheers, thanks for checking it out!
G and the Teen Team
http://radicalparenting.com

G of NJ 5:49PM September 05, 2009

"...82 percent of parents check their child's online profile regularly."
No way in the world that number is correct. I have a teenager, I work in a high school as the computer guy, and I have a side business that helps parents know what their kids are doing on social networking sites.
Single moms, in particular, tend to know that their kids have such pages, but most admit that they have no way of knowing what is in there. And that's just what the kids make available to the public. Some parents are their kids' "friend" on their pages. Without that status, you cannot see most of what teenagers post.
I suspect that the population that was surveyed by Common Sense Media is probably more tech-savvy than the general population, and that may explain this unusually high number of parents who claim to regularly view their kids' pages.
In my world, in an affluent suburban community, with near 100% broadband access 24x7, most parents are too busy with their own social interests to have time to really look into what is on their kids' facebook and myspace pages.
Do this simple thing; ask your kid to "friend" you. If they do, you have less to worry about, if you check on them once in a while. If they refuse, you've got some work to do, because they're hiding something. As a parent, sometimes you have to play dirty. I help parents do whatever necessary to protect their kids online.
Don't be like a parent of a 15 year old girl I found at school, who was chatting with a 25 year old guy (not allowed on school computers), and when I told the administrators and the father about it, nothing was done. She came back to school after the Summer break, pregnant. The signs were there, but nobody was looking for them.

Mike Ramsey of TX 1:19PM August 18, 2009

such a collection of bad writing as appears below in the comments? This is probably a more dangerous long-term effect of teens on web sites than even racy pictures and comments.
Your friendly electronic revolution is dumbing down your kids---for life.

Muser of NM 9:58PM August 17, 2009

Social networking is here to stay. Isn’t it great to hear that if you are one of the 51% of teenagers that log onto Myspace or Facebook more than once a day? What about the 22% that has admitted to logging on 10 times or more a day? These ridiculous statistics are causing so many problems in the adolescent world today. I chose this topic, because I am not one to be a frequent social network user. I’m not going to lie to you and say I don’t own one. But I am not going to stress out if and when it has not been checked within the past week or two. Okay, so the main theological concern and with parents is that their child may be involved in becoming sexual on the Internet in many ways. By posting pictures, being more comfortable with saying different things not in his or her own words, and etc. But saying things so nonchalant that can be very disrespectful to yourself and/or others will come back to bite you in the butt later on. Nothing on the Internet can be erased. That right there is where I stand on this issue. The church, I believe would not ever want you to post inappropriate pictures of yourself or saying disrespectful things. Honestly, why bother, kids? The teens I am sure just think that the Internet is a place where they can be a completely different person and not have to worry because it is your own Myspace/Facebook page and no one else’s. They don’t have to worry about what they look like when they are talking to their friends or people they have met on the internet except for what their profile picture looks like, and going more off of meeting new people online, I’m sure they are thinking they would like to act a little different and/or say some things you wouldn’t normally say in your everyday life. I mean who can blame them? I’m sure everyone would like a second chance to talk to someone they have never met and try to be someone they are not for a day. But the Internet is NOT the place to do it. Whether it is a job you applied for looking at your profile, colleges, or your own grandma. Do you really want those people seeing all of that and have it reflect at you?

Emma of IL 9:48PM August 17, 2009