Kids & Social Media

For months my daughter has been begging for a Face book account. I personally have an account and I’m even friends with some of her friends. If the girls were having a sleepover or if something was going on, I would post little comments on their wall. I always found it entertaining to hear their comments.

So, if you have children or once were a kid, then you know the routine! After countless days of whining, begging, and storming off to her bedroom, I finally caved. I gave in to the idea of my daughter having a FB account. After all, I was friends with her friends and have never come across anything that seemed harmful. As we were setting up her account I made sure to go over safety and what our rules were, as well as what she was to do if any of the scenarios discussed were to ever happen. And so the fun began! She loved being connected so easily with her friends and family, and I also enjoyed her being on there.

It only takes one....

Come to find out, someone had apparently hacked into one of her friends accounts and was posting and chatting in a very inappropriate manner. Although it took a few days for us to find out what happened, we commend her for the courage it took to come forward with the information.

What to do from here?

Well, first of all, I need to be responsible for what I did. I allowed her to be a part of something that is intended for adults. I was naïve. I should have known better than to put her in this situation. Why didn’t I see the warning flags while I was explaining all the possibilities of what could happen?

I’m still left sitting on fact that technology is the “here and now”, and whether I like it or not, social media is not going anywhere. Access and information are readily available at the push of a button, and heck, even I find it rather convenient.

Reality check

My daughter knows way more than I do, and I’ve kind of had my head in the sand when it comes to learning this stuff. I certainly have come a long way, but I am realizing that there’s never a break when it comes to the safety of my children. It is necessary to stay involved and up-to-date as there’s always something (or someone) new around the corner.

Time to get with it!