Sunday, September 1, 2013

Nia Edwards 5th period "How teens, parents struggle to share social media"

                                                                                                                                     Nia Edwards
                                                                                                                                    5th period     
                                                                                                                                    Current Event 1


According to the CNN article written by Heather Kelly on August 30,2013, "Parents and teens both are seeking ways to coexist peacefully on the few social networks they do share." After interviewing multiple children and adults, Kelly discovered that each group tries to limit what the other can see online by changing the privacy settings that social networking cites provide.

For instance, parents, while wanting to respect their children's personal boundaries, also want to monitor what their child views and posts to protect them from stalkers and public ridicule. Kelly seems to support this idea with the fact that "only 9% of teens reported being "very concerned" about third parties accessing their data." Basically a parent is thinking about safety, while their children are only thinking about "freedom of expression." While kids are trying to keep their posts private from adults, its apparent that some adults are doing the same exact thing. 

Another way for children to avoid parental scrutiny is simply to use another social network such as twitter, Instagram, vine, or other sites that parents simply do not know to monitor. It's been said by many teens that they feel "less social pressure and more freedom to express themselves" when they find a different social media to use that fewer parents know about.

I personally agree with the article for I have encountered the same experiences with my parents having access to my posts. Knowing this, I filter what I say and either put it on a different site or change my settings to where they can't see it. This editorial, written  for both adults and children should make everyone, including myself, aware of the positive effects social media can have on relationships between children and their parents. More than anything, everyone should remember that social media can be used for good or bad. Even employers, schools, and especially government agencies monitor social sites to decide the character of those who they will select out of the pool of people who wish to become a part of their organizations.


http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/30/tech/social-media/social-media-teens-parents/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

3 comments:

  1. I see where Carly is coming from..but if you aren't comfortable with your parents seeing certain things, then why are you comfortable with others seeing them? Unless of course someone isn't very close with their parents and think they would overreact.

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  2. It is funny to me how much people think about their social networking. I liked the article.

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  3. As a teenager, I understand wanting to "freely express myself" on social media sites, such as Twitter. However, I believe kids should have a filter and be aware of what words they are posting to the world. Not everything going on in your life has to be put on the internet. I think it is important for parents to put a little restriction on their kids when it comes to posting, due to safety reasons, but not too much or else their children will want to be even more secretive.

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