1. They tend to believe that any social networking site is like an online dating service and someone so “young” should not be exposed to that.
2. They would much rather you spend your time reading rather than posting on walls.
3. Most people tend to dislike whatever they don’t understand.
4. They probably think that Facebook is a dangerous place where strangers could intrude on your privacy.
5. If your parents are religious, they probably think Facebook is evil and it takes you farther away from God.
6. Parents might dread that you would get addicted to Facebook and be online all the time, at the cost of your normal life and family-time.
7. They might also feel that you are shutting them from your personal life, which also means that you have a personal life which you don’t want to talk to them about.
8. They may also feel that your personal life and pictures should not be on display publicly.
9. They might think that you would start neglecting your studies because of all the time that you spend on Facebook.
10. Also, chances are that somebody is feeding them negative information and all the cons about Facebook which makes them dread it more.

If you are a parent, tell me, what is your impression regarding Facebook?

A recent study conduct by Common Sense Media, who is a non profit organization that keeps track of children’s online activity, revealed some unbelievable statistics. They surveyed both parents and children and it seems that parents are missing important aspects when it comes about their children’s online activity.

• 49 percent of parents said their child was 13 or older before starting to use the Internet unsupervised. Just 14 percent of teenagers said they were that old.

• 23 percent of parents said their children log onto social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace more than once a day. But 51 percent of teenagers said they check in more than once a day.

• Just 4 percent of parents think their children check social networking sites more than 10 times a day; 22 percent of teenagers said they’re online that often or more.

• When it comes to “sexting,” or posting explicit photos, 2 percent of parents believe their child had posted naked or near-naked photos or videos of themselves or others. But 13 percent of teens admitted they had done that. (Source)
  

Sexting is only one worry. These children are too innocent to understand who their habits will affect their lives later. And if they are not aware, it’s your duty as a parent to straight things up. Teach your child what a healthy life online means.

In the US, a 15 year old student of the Lisle High School was arrested for posting inappropriate, and often times, threatening content on his Facebook page. In one statement, he says, “Lisle Senior High School needs to be the target of domestic terrorism.” In another he says, “almost killed the most random person today.”

This youth was charged with a Class B and C misdemeanor, but was released with a strict warning and an ankle bracelet. His movements are now being constantly monitored. If his parents had monitored his online activity, this story may not have come so far.

In the case of the second youth, the story did go a bit too far. A student of the Templeton Secondary School in Vancouver, this youth had posted a list of 117 people, who he intended to kill, along with the order in which he wanted to kill them.

He was reported to the local police by 6 students of the school. Apparently, many students knew about ‘the list’ and the teen spoke freely about it. “We’d been talking about the list and he said, on it, ‘You’re 25,’ and he would go up to someone and say, ‘You’re so and so,’” said Mr. Brown, one of the teen’s fellow students. “I asked him about it and he said, ‘This was the number I have. You’re on my list.’ Basically, that ‘I am going to kill you‘ and the order I’m going to kill you in.”

The police found a number of firearms and unauthorized weapons in the teens house, and the teen is now in police custody, charged with multiple charges.

From my point o view, I don’t find this measure as adequate. Is not that I’m posting information that I don’t want to share or something, but the idea that my content being in someone’s hands simply doesn’t make me happy. More than that, I find this as a privacy invasion. “In reality, we wouldn’t share your information in a way you wouldn’t want”— but the question in this case is: why there was the need to change the Terms if it doesn’t matter who’s owning the content? There definitely is a question mark.

With the expansion of Internet websites like Myspace and Facebook, we saw the birth of social media where users can connect and chat with each other on an easy to customize homepage of their own. Social media has been taken even further, though. Microblogging platforms like Twitter and Pownce have been developed. These allow Internet surfers to create an account and send small messages to friends and followers. However, some of these microblogging platforms have gone sour due to Internet pornography. And children are susceptible to these issues as they are some of the most frequent visitors to these sites.

Children can use microblogging to send messages and short ideas to anyone who might be following them. In some cases, some of these followers might be spamming webmasters who use social media and microblogging networks to spam their porn websites out to thousands of people. Children can thusly be affected by these incoming messages, and view pornography from a website that should have been protected from these sorts of activities.

Because these microblogging platforms now seem incapable of protecting our children from Internet pornography and other types of spam, the responsibility is now on us, the adults, to teach our children what they should do if they ever encounter unexpected pornography on the Internet. As a suggestion, we think you should talk to your children about how you can better protect them face to face. This can give a child an increased sensation of self-management and help them make their own, proper decisions on what websites they choose to affect their own lives.