We see the idea of moral panic heavily reviewed and criticized in the text by Boyd. This ‘moral panic’ that parents face, not only takes away from a child’s social understanding but also could curb them later on. While it is the natural instict of a parent to protect their child, often times this can be exaggerated. We can see in today’s world since the prevalence of Apple, that the use of Apps in relation to social media can be restricted, hidden or even turned off.
I decided to simply ‘google’ devices for monitoring child Internet activity. I was astounded by the amount of apps that parents have readily available to them these days. This website caught my attention:
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/parental-control-apps-android/
It highlights 8 free apps for your smartphone to monitor your child’s activity within the Internet. The article highlights that we should not shut out technology together from a child’s life completely but we should be able to have the ability to control it. Control: however can be defined in many different ways. Throughout Boyd’s texts her accounts with many teens and the way their parents control or conform there Internet usage spreads along a wide range. For example we see the use of secondary devices like apps or websites that let parents check their child’s text messages, website streaming history, as well as their social media networks. One site, very popular among parents is the site Teensafe.com. The website locks the user in with keywords life: safe, and child. But what they are really doing is looking into the private conversations and lives of teens and children.
“What if we told you that modern technology has made it easier than ever for us to know what our kids are up to and keep them safe?
This exclusive infographic illustrates that, while the threats of the digital world are real, they’re no match for an equipped parent.
TeenSafe brings protective parents and smartphone tech together to safeguard what we all value most, the great kids that depend on us.”
While there are dangers of the Internet the dialogue of children trying to survive in a virtual world may be curbed. We see the example Boyd gives of a nerd-like boy from the “ghetto” that changed his Myspace profile to represent gang signs, when his college application was set to end gang violence. While he may not support gangs, he did what he needed to survive within a social situation. This applies to life before the computer as well in different social circles. As parents are not there for every real life conversation their child/teen has, it should not mean that they should be tracked and their conversation should be analyzed. I am not saying that parents should not keep track of what their child is doing and not play an active role in their life, especially when it comes to the internet, but I do believe independence and forming your on social life is part of being a child and adolescence.
I agree that independence and forming you own online social life is part of growing up. I think that if my parents installed apps on my phone that monitored my every move, it would push me to find loopholes and then act even more extremely than I would have before. I remember in middle school our internet was censored, yet kids eventually found a page that could prevent the school from censoring our internet use. The kids in my class ended up looking up vile things purely out of rebellion of the system intending to keep their activity safe. In this metaphor, parents who try too hard to monitor may end up pushing kids to do the things that were attempted to prevent in the first place.
If parents are doing a good job of keeping the kids engaged with the world around them, and allow them the freedom to make their own social life in person, the online use will become a social tool rather than a social crutch.
I really enjoyed reading over your blog and the very thorough infographic you shared. I agree that it is not about technology being withheld or restricted from teens, but rather about empowering both parents and adolescents to make the right decisions. Whether it is informing parents that they’ve gone too far and have become overprotective, or discussing with teens the negative effects of technology abuse, communication is absolutely key here. This graphic should be shared with troubled families to get a better sense of where each party is coming from in the debate of online/technology abuse.
I think it’s interesting that the infographic makes the point that access to technology is important for young people because without it they won’t be able to relate to their peers. That seems to be a newer perspective.