What do you think about teenagers using myspace or facebook unsupervised?

United States
September 3, 2010 2:59pm CST
I keep going through this reoccurring problem with the teenage girls going online and I will let it go for awhile before checking their activity and when I do they have boyfreinds and will allways spend 24/7 of their time on there if I let them! so when I catch them I tell them not to do these things and they promise, and then they will be restricted for a time, then when they can be allowed to go back on they eventually slip back into using it for bad, and once back in the past,not only did one of the kids have a boyfreind but my spouses ex had their newly wedspouse trying to lead our girl into sneaking out and meetting their boyfreind at the park at night! Oh you can belive that there was computer restriction for a while after that! . . .but eventually they manage to get back on and now recentely they both have stared new facebook & myspace accounts and Again have given us repeated promise not to do It again..so we will see, but my reflex tells me that they are gonna slide back to their old routine? so is this just a never ending rollercoaster ride of life and I need to try to accept it? I dont want to come across overbearing to them especially when this causes big conflict being a Step-parent and all but I feel that it is opening a door to danger!.. lets hear your advice and experience!
2 people like this
6 responses
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
15 Sep 10
Well, as I've mentioned before, my children are younger. However, my daughter does already have a facebook account. The rule when I decided to allow her to have a facebook account was that I was to be her friend. If I was ever unfriended from her then her account would be gone and also if she was to start behaving in a way that I don't think is appropriate she would also be locked out of her account for a while as well. I don't think that is too much control at all.
@spazz435 (322)
• United States
11 Sep 10
I think that a teenager using Myspace or Facebook a lot to talk to their boyfriend/girlfriend is not a bad thing. That's what teenagers do. They are growing up and are learning new things everyday, and doing what they do is part of the process. They wouldn't have a boyfriend if they thought they were never going to get to talk to them at all because their parents restricted them. I can understand taking it away for the sneaking out part, but just using in constantly just to talk is something that should not be punished. That is why Facebook and Myspace are there for. For teenagers to be able to socialize with one another. Teenagers will be teenagers, and teenagers talk a lot. Let them do that. Or else it's just another dumb reason why your children will rebel.
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
3 Sep 10
I think that most teenagers know how to use the Internet. Some teens like to go on to sites like Face Book and My Space. I believe that the parent should make sure their son or daughter is only making friends with people that he or she knows from school, the youth club or activity group. The parent should look at the photos their son or daughter has on Face Book. It is best to restrict the time spent on the Internet. For example from 7.30 to 8.30 every evening. I am sorry that you had a bad experience and hopefully it will get better from now on with your care about them staying safe on the Internet.
@sender621 (14893)
• United States
4 Sep 10
Parental controls should be exercised when our teens are on such sites. Not knowing who they converse with and what is said can lead to problems that can quickly be out of our control. Monitoring them is just a good way to keep our children safe.
@T_Diamond (965)
• New Zealand
3 Sep 10
As a late teen myself, I have facebook, spend about 5-10minutes on it a day. My main purpose for starting it was to keep in touch with some of the international students in our school, who have traveled back to Germany or Japan. Also, this is my second to last year of school, before uni - so I probably won't see many of them again, hense use facebook. I suppose as a rule of thumb, don't share anything on facebook, you wouldn't share with your parents.
@BigTips (304)
• China
4 Sep 10
I don't think it is absolutely wrong to allow those teenagers to use Myspace or Facebook, of course, it may be a better choice to take it under control in case they spend lots of time on these SNS sites. There is a trend that Facebook is becoming more and more popular among teenagers. If they can use them properly, it is not a bad news for us. Why not allow them to use the latest tools to communicate with others?