Parents can be bothersome sometimes, can’t they? We get it. They took care of us when we were little, so we should be thankful. But sometimes parents don’t seem to understand that everyone needs their own personal space—like our Facebook, Twitter, or CHICTOPIA social networks! EIU has gathered information from our lovely correspondents: NatalieFeo, KaylaMeow, Headbandit, and Irisanddaniel.
Personally, my parents have a joined account on Facebook (inspired by Irisanddaniel, perhaps?) I am friends with their account and they know what I share on Facebook. I don’t put anything diary-worthy on Facebook, therefore I have no problem with it.
But sometimes parents take Facebook status updates too seriously. Like if we put “I’m tired of school!” they would immediately assume that we would runaway from home and joined the circus or something along those lines. I had to tell my parents that most of my status updates were from song lyrics. The same thing applies to KaylaMeow. “If I say that I’m feeling disappointed or sad on my Facebook status, they will ask me why,” said Kayla. In a way it’s adorable to know that they care about you. However, it can make us feel overprotected.
The majority of today’s parents (with teen kids) grew up in the sixties, seventies, or eighties. They are aware of technology—I mean, my parents text and use “lol.” Most of them know that we have a life on the Internet. Iris, from Irisanddaniel was one of the few exceptions. “My mom doesn’t really know about my social media life … she’s not involved in using computers at all,” said Iris. She then continued that she wouldn’t be uncomfortable if her mom knew.
In a way, it is great to have cool parents who know that Blackberry and Apple aren’t just fruits, but some might argue they prefer the opposite.
“It is very uncomfortable for your parents to know everything you do on the Internet! It’s like you’re in a room with a door unable to close. You feel like you can’t keep anything from your parents. Like they know everything about you.” said our own effortlessly stylish rising star, NatalieFeo. EIU writer, Headbandit echoed, “It might [make me uncomfortable,] but really just because I write/blog on my pages as if I were speaking to my peers instead of my parents. It’s kind of like if they were eavesdropping on a conversation with my friends.”
Parents’ contributions aren’t always negative. “My mom is kind of really involved in social media life haha, and she’s always updated on our CHICTOPIA posts and stuff,” said Daniel, the other half of our star user, Irisanddaniel. And did you guys know some parents love Everybody is Ugly? Headbandit said that her parents are quite proud that she writes for EIU here on CHICTOPIA. She then added, “as for Facebook, my dad always tells me to watch out for predators, haha.“ Very valid, Headbandit’s dad.
One thing that all of us could agree on: parents are allowed to have a control on what their kids share online—but only to a certain level. Both Iris and Daniel said: “To a degree, we feel that parents should have some sort of control over what their kids do online, especially at really young ages but once in the later teens the parents don’t really need to be in the business of their children’s internet life. It’s like a slightly-public personal diary sometimes (especially on sites that you may remain a little more anonymous on like Tumblr), it’s up to the person’s discretion to share or keep private. As long as … the child is mature enough to handle it, then it’s really sort of an independent activity.”
Individual maturity is the key here.
KaylaMeow also brought up an interesting issue. “Some kids can’t be trusted. They could say or do something that they’ll regret. Even worse, they could cyber bully someone so that is when their parents could stop them.”
All in all, as NatalieFeo stated, “I think they should have a little control, because they don’t want their daughters/sons to misbehave online, but they should cut them a little slack. We need our privacy, and social networking is kind of like our escape!”
Touché.
What do you think?
HG
