Jul 30, 2007 3:41 pm US/Eastern
Parents Now Logging On To Social Networking Sites
by Paula Ebben
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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More and more parents are logging onto social networking sites, like MySpace.com and facebook.com, to keep an eye on their kids and expand their own universe.
CBS
If you want to know what your teenagers are up to these days, you really need to check in cyberspace. More and more parents are logging onto social networking sites, like MySpace.com and facebook.com, to keep an eye on their kids and expand their own universe.
Laura Matthews of Framingham learned a lesson from her daughter carol about the 21st century -- specifically social network sites. "It was great because my daughter had a facebook… It was fun and it just had all these great features, so I figured, dive right in
Laura is definitely crossing a generational divide, but she's not alone. A recent survey shows 40 percent of MySpace users are now between the ages of 35 and 54. And facebook reports its fastest growing age group is 25 and older. Mark Sullivan with PC World Magazine says, when it comes to parents, the motivation is simple. "They simply want to swim in the same waters as their kids."
Parents use these sites to monitor what their kids are doing online. That can be a tough balancing act and can create tension.
"I do kind of feel invaded, of my privacy," said Ashley Webber, whose mom, April, is right up front about why she wanted to learn how to use these sites.
"I created my MySpace page to check up on my 15-year-old who I believe was 14 at the time, and I created it so I could see what she was doing, and who she was talking to and what kind of information he had posted on there."
Family therapist Julie Albright says parental involvement in a place kids consider their own can be dicey. "Suddenly they are trying to hang out and network and chat with their friends on MySpace and here comes mom on there and that's not really cool."
Laura says she tries to be aware of her daughter's need for independence. "I wanted to make sure I wasn't getting into my kids face on facebook."
Mother and daughter can laugh about it now. "I turned to all my roommates and I said my mom just asked me if she could join facebook and they… we all sort of gave each other a groan," said Carol Matthews-Nicoli.
And now, Laura finds she's doing this for herself anyway. "My own profile is kind of fun because I get to self express."
Dr. Albright says its important to let your children know that you're going onto one of these sites right up front and respect their decision if they don't want you to be a friend on their site.
She does say it's critical for parents of younger children to review any information the child wants to put out there.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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