It’s part of my job to search the
Internet for subjects that have to do with Internet privacy. In the past couple of months, I’ve seen a lot
of questions on answer sites that have to do with kids and social media. Most of these questions involve getting
“Likes” on their social media pages.
Kids today are under enough
pressure in their real lives when it comes to school and grades. Now, it seems that these kids are adding
pressure on themselves all because of social media. Instead of worrying about having an active
social life with real friends, these kids are stressing over the fact that
their Facebook profile picture isn’t getting enough likes. If they don’t have enough followers or
“Likes” on Instagram and Twitter, it’s like the end of the world.
I have seen 13 year olds begging
for likes because it’s “embarrassing” that their profile picture only got 10
“Likes” on Facebook. Others are
depressed that they only have 15 followers on Instagram. Others yet are blogging on Tumblr about
personal things and asking strangers to read their blogs and follow them.
They are actually going on answer
sites to beg for “Likes” and followers.
Not only that, it has become so important to them that they are actually
going to sites to buy “Likes” and followers.
It’s scary to think that these kids are our future, yet they find
nothing wrong with the practice of buying “Likes”. When did it become acceptable to buy rewards
instead of earning them? I’d like to
know how many parents are keeping track of their kids’ social media pages to
see that they are actually cheating and if they approve of this cheating. In other words: What are we teaching our kids?
The cost isn’t a lot, but in
order to pay the $1 to $3 charge, a credit card or PayPal account is
needed. This brings up a whole other
issue: privacy. Do you know who your kids are giving your
credit card number to in order to buy these “Likes” and followers? What about the actual followers? They need to be able to see everything posted
in order to “Like” things on your children’s pages. Strangers will know where your children live,
what they look like, what schools they go to.
These strangers will see posts saying that the family will be away on
vacation or pictures of your kids at the beach.
They will be able to see those slumber party videos posted to Facebook,
which include other parents’ kids. How
will those other parents feel knowing that strangers are watching what should
be private videos?
Parents need to teach their kids
that social media isn’t something to get stressed out about, or depressed
over. It wasn’t intended to stress over;
it was intended as a way to express our thoughts and keep in touch with friends
and family. I doubt very much the
intention was to make teenagers feel bad about themselves because only 3 people
“Liked” their profile picture.
The minimum age for social media
is 13 years old. Some kids are mature
enough at 13 to realize that what happens on social media really isn’t what’s
important. For others, it’s a place that
means everything. Parents need to teach
their kids that while it’s good to be creative on Tumblr and Instagram and
share views on Facebook and Twitter, it should not be the defining factor in a
teenager’s life. Each parent knows their
own child best to determine whether or not social media is right for that
child.
In order to keep your privacy
safe, parents must teach their kids not to give out personal information over
the Internet. Another way to stay safe
is to surf the Internet anonymously with a proxy server. Please take advantage of our FREE trial offer
and see how changing your IP Address and encrypting every connection will make
you feel safer knowing that you can’t be found.
