Today’s pre-teen has an instinctual understanding of the value of social networking, which is a good thing. It speaks to the way these networks are designed and to the user experience — that it is tapping into something fundamentally human in the way we connect.
However, that’s not enough. That stance assumes that the children involved also have the life experience necessary to recognize the boundaries of social norms, to handle bullying, to process peer pressure for what it is.
I posted this video last month in my effort to figure out where the lines are. I am depressed to say that most parents have never given this the first thought, and they should.
So please help us work through this together. Watch the video, and share your thoughts in the comments.
- Is your mind changed, one way or another?
- Given the emphasis on technology in schools (iPads and Chromebooks and the like), should there be more training around Social Media?
- What should that training entail?
- Are we sending the wrong message by encouraging kids and parents to violate a TOS?
- Is this a clarion call to Twitter and Facebook to develop kid-friendly sandboxes their parents and teachers can oversee?
- Is Ike just a raving fuddy-duddy who is destined to be kicked to the curb of history?
SME Paid Under