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But couldn't someone find those things out just by watching a person? There are 2,200 kids at DD's high school, obviously people can find out what car she drives by watching her in the parking lot or figure out where she shops at by looking at her clothes.
I guess what I'm saying is that kids can give away information (like what kind of car my daughter drives... oh how horrible it would be if someone figured that out! Or OMG what if they found out she was watching American Idol?) just by talking at school.
At school your child is talking to other kids and she can actually see/hear them. Same with the phone - if your dd calls to talk to her friend Suzy and a 30 year old man answers the phone instead, she's going to know that she isn't talking to Suzy. On FB you don't really know for sure who your child is talking to. Maybe just her friends are talking to her on FB but maybe not.
I think we all have different comfort levels with regards to who our kids come in contact with. My kids are not in middle school, yet, so I'm probably even more cautious than a parent of a highschooler might be.
At any rate, it's not too early for me to start thinking about how I'm going to handle FB, texting, etc. because I know that day is coming soon.
Last edited by springfieldva; 09-28-2011 at 07:01 AM..
I don't think it's a big deal and I think you are causing yourself undue stress. There are lots of people that you don't know who know where you live, who lives in your home, what time you come and go, where you work, etc. Your neighbors! I bet you are not afraid one of them will hurt your DD.
I think most people (strangers, neighbors, etc.) are good people. But I do think that there are adults who like to pretend to be kids (or at least don't make it clear that they are adults) on the internet - they may not all have sinister reasons for doing this, but maybe some of them do.
Last edited by springfieldva; 09-28-2011 at 07:03 AM..
I think most people are good people - strangers, neighbors, etc. But I do think that there are adults who like to pretend to be kids (or at least don't make it clear that they are adults) on the internet - they may not all have sinister reasons for doing this, but maybe some of them do.
I am with you and there are so many examples of this infact the IMO is the one whom just pointed it out. The thread was started because the IMO's bosses wife posted for thier underage son. Another example is the dad of another child posting about girls.
Anything will have its good and bad points and as long as you are willing to take a "risk" (cannot thing of a better word) than go for it. At this time there is so much that my kids can be enjoying that they do not need FB so we are not doing it, this does not mean they do not know about it because they do.
I agree with all the authors points on this subject but the IMO was talking about competitive terms are now being applied to FB where the children are not the authors. How do we feel about this? Parents posting for their children?
I say it is an invasion of the child's privacy and no one should post on their child's on FB! It is just like doing their homework for them.
I am with you and there are so many examples of this infact the IMO is the one whom just pointed it out. The thread was started because the IMO's bosses wife posted for thier underage son. Another example is the dad of another child posting about girls.
Anything will have its good and bad points and as long as you are willing to take a "risk" (cannot thing of a better word) than go for it. At this time there is so much that my kids can be enjoying that they do not need FB so we are not doing it, this does not mean they do not know about it because they do.
I agree with all the authors points on this subject but the IMO was talking about competitive terms are now being applied to FB where the children are not the authors. How do we feel about this? Parents posting for their children?
I say it is an invasion of the child's privacy and no one should post on their child's on FB! It is just like doing their homework for them.
I feel that adults posing as children to "compete" with other children is not competition at all. It's cheating. And a very low form of cheating at that..
How's this for a twist; my teenage son keeps trying to talk ME out of using Facebook. He refuses to use it due to privacy issues. I told him I have privacy blocks on it and I only have about 60-70 friends, all of whom I know personally.
However, it would be extremely easy for an adult to set up a dummy profile of a child. Find one of their friends that has a public profile with a pic of Suzy posted on their page. Cut and paste it to a dummy profile with Suzy's name, and voila, start friending the other 13-yr old girls. Instant pedophile heaven.
Some of you seem a tad naive about the dangers in the world and the lengths sickos will go to in order to worm their way into your child's life. One of my friends got a call from the police at 2am. She was 14 yrs old and they found her in a park with a 40 yr old man that she met online.
How's this for a twist; my teenage son keeps trying to talk ME out of using Facebook. He refuses to use it due to privacy issues. I told him I have privacy blocks on it and I only have about 60-70 friends, all of whom I know personally.
However, it would be extremely easy for an adult to set up a dummy profile of a child. Find one of their friends that has a public profile with a pic of Suzy posted on their page. Cut and paste it to a dummy profile with Suzy's name, and voila, start friending the other 13-yr old girls. Instant pedophile heaven.
Some of you seem a tad naive about the dangers in the world and the lengths sickos will go to in order to worm their way into your child's life. One of my friends got a call from the police at 2am. She was 14 yrs old and they found her in a park with a 40 yr old man that she met online.
I'm not naive. But I'm also not afraid of everything and everyone. I don't think FB is the "nefarious" tool people make it out to be.
How's this for a twist; my teenage son keeps trying to talk ME out of using Facebook. He refuses to use it due to privacy issues. I told him I have privacy blocks on it and I only have about 60-70 friends, all of whom I know personally.
However, it would be extremely easy for an adult to set up a dummy profile of a child. Find one of their friends that has a public profile with a pic of Suzy posted on their page. Cut and paste it to a dummy profile with Suzy's name, and voila, start friending the other 13-yr old girls. Instant pedophile heaven.
Some of you seem a tad naive about the dangers in the world and the lengths sickos will go to in order to worm their way into your child's life. One of my friends got a call from the police at 2am. She was 14 yrs old and they found her in a park with a 40 yr old man that she met online.
Well, that is some unnerving stuff . I hope your friend's daughter is o.k.!
Criminals aside, I would imagine that an unscrupulous competitive person could use a dummy profile to get a leg up on their competition, too.
Since there do seem to be some real privacy concerns with FB, why not listen to your son and stop using it? Or do you feel that it is possible to use FB safely?
Last edited by springfieldva; 09-29-2011 at 07:43 AM..
I'm not naive. But I'm also not afraid of everything and everyone. I don't think FB is the "nefarious" tool people make it out to be.
Sorry, but you are showing your naivete in your posts.
Boycotting FB is not being "afraid of everything and everyone" - to the contrary, rejecting it shows character and sets a great example for kids.
Facebook is a perfect example of internet sheeple mentality.
It's quite sad how parents have bought into it . . . they are literally afraid of telling their kids to stay away from it because heaven forbid the kids should get mad or not be one of the young sheeple.
There's something very disturbing about any parent who encourages their kids to be there and this notion that the parents or kids can have 50, 100, 200, a thousand "friends" is absolutely preposterous. That's giving all these kids some kind of warped concept of friendship.
Why would any parent advocate their kids spend time on Facebook instead of encouraging their kids to spend time productively, creatively, and constructively? And I'm NOT talking about school activities overload. I mean teaching kids about things that really matter in life, letting them have their own fun, letting them BE KIDS. I guess if a parent wants their son or daughter to become a mindless drone, staring into a computer screen for hours a day, losing their ability to think as individuals, then Facebook is just the thing.
The truth is, Facebook is a blip in life - it stands for nothing good.
As for the general use of Facebook, if you doubt the "nefarious" nature of it, I suggest you spend a little time away from FB to do your homework - there are a number of resources available that will provide you an education about what FB is really all about and how dangerous it is.
Have you read or listened to the news about all the ways FB has been used to cause harm to users? Many account holders get caught up in some kind of controversy, maybe not because they directly ask to be involved, but they do open that door a little bit just by participating on the site.
But here's something that is happening more and more often: ANYONE can create an account in another person's REAL name and then use that account to attack and defame that person's name and character. And many of the victims are people who have NEVER even had a FB account.
So the fact that this popular site would not have absolutely stringent controls to prevent those kinds of things from happening should be enough to dissuade parents from allowing their kids to be part of it.
Anyway, take a little of your time and do the research.
Of course, it probably won't matter to you or any of the other parents who snub their noses at what they believe is "old-fashioned" parenting, which is too bad . . . for the kids.
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. I hope your friend's daughter is o.k.! 
