Author | Michael Powell |
There are many temptations for teens, and Instagram is one of them. If you are a teen, you know that many people have Instagram and it can be really tempting to want it yourself. If you are a parent, you are probably worried for your kid’s online safety. I interviewed several teens and a few parents so maybe we can get a better understanding of each other.
One of the biggest questions about social media is when teens are allowed to join. Different parents have different rules and some parents even have different rules for different kids.
Kristy Mulkey who is an instructor here at SGA and a parent of three kids says, “It is not as much an age, as it is a maturity level.”
Griffin Evans who is a middle school student at SGA agrees that it, “Depends on the kid and how trustworthy they are.”
Abbey White who is also a student at SGA says, “It’s fine as long as your parents are ok with it.”
Social media has become a large part of our daily lives. Parents in the 21st century have to deal with something that parents have never had to deal with before…the internet (said like “the claw” in Toy Story). The way that parents address social media varies, but there is a recurring concept: BE CAREFUL!
Anna Boivin, who is a student, says her parents, “Are signed in to my account on another device so they can look at it all the time.”
Abbey White says that her parents, “Don’t care that I have it, but they trust me.”
Sara Kate Walker, who is a student, isn’t allowed to have an Instagram account until she is 16 years old. She doesn’t really want Instagram, but says that, “Sometimes I wish I had it because my friends post on it and sometimes they say stuff like, ‘Oh did you see so-and-so’s post?’ and I always have to say no because I don’t have it.”
Now a little bit from the adult side of things:
Janet Payton, who is an instructor at SGA, has three children and says that she waited a while before she let her kids get on social media. She says that, “It’s there. We have to deal with it. But I don’t love it.” She also says that teens especially need to be “really, really careful.”
Kristy Mulkey allows her oldest who is almost 14 years old to have Instagram, but she follows him to see what he posts and she does, “random phone checks” to help keep up with him.
Dana Carter is an instructor at SGA and has two children. She has allowed her daughter who is 17 years old to have Instagram since she was 14 years old. She stated that, “I monitored her account steadily until this year. She’s earned my trust.”
Parents seem to keep an eye on their kid’s accounts. How do the kids feel about it?
Anna Boivin says that parents should, “Know their child’s login and password and be able to check it when they want.” She also stated that, “I am fine with my parents monitoring my account because I really think if your parents can’t see it, then you shouldn’t be looking at it.”
Abbey White says that, “I think that your parents should follow you and make sure that everything you put out there is appropriate.”
I personally think if someone is getting an account, they need to be mature enough and able enough to understand what is right and what is wrong. It might also be a good idea for their parents to monitor or keep an eye on their account. That way the parents know what they are up to and can stop any reckless behavior. They might not even know if they are doing something wrong, but their parents can pick it out and talk to them about it. This is my opinion though! Our major takeaways can be that it is best to wait until a certain level of maturity before making a social media account. It might be a good idea for some adult to have access to the account just to keep an eye on things. Be safe online!