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Community Corner

Tracking Kids' Use of Social Media

We can't seem to socialize or live without it, so East Cobb Patch asked moms about their children's use of social media.

Chris Wilson is the mother of three boys — two grade-schoolers and a student. Joan Keene is the mother of one adult daughter, a teenage girl, and a son in second grade. She also is a grandmother who serves as a volunteer referee with the Upward Basketball league at . 

Do you allow your children to engage in social media, and if so, to what extent?

Chris Wilson: No, for the younger ones, and yes, for the 17-year-old. He uses Facebook and Twitter, and probably some I don’t even know of, but Facebook and Twitter primarily.

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Joan Keene: We allow our 13-year-old girl to be on Facebook. We initially looked at what information she was posting, to make sure that nothing personal was on there, like, “Hey, I am a 13-year-old girl, and I live on such-and-such street.”

How do you monitor your child’s use of social media outlets?

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Chris Wilson: I used to monitor everything because I used to take his laptop at night. Now that he’s gotten older, I don’t do that as much. I used to have his passwords; that was one of the requirements I set for him to be able to go online, but kids are smart. They know how to just set up another one. Occasionally, I would check his Facebook account. I even had it so that any of his emails would go directly to my cell phone.

Joan Keene: My daughter’s older sister is 33 and has children of her own, so she goes on there and can see the posts. The way we control it is we have the computer in our bedroom against the wall so that whoever comes in can see the screen. It’s right there. What we can’t monitor easily is when she’s doing real-time chats. That’s very difficult. But we’re pleased with how she’s doing. She’s a good kid. As far as the other media, like iPhones that can go online, we have parental controls on all of that.

Is cyber bullying a concern of yours?

Chris Wilson: I’m not seeing a concern about this. I guess that as far as any ribbing might go, he’d get as much as he’d give or dish out. But at this point, with my child, we’re okay.

Joan Keene: For eighth-graders, though, it’s all pretty benign, except when they use bad language. I think that that’s just for shock value. You need to have them confront some situations when they’re at home so you can guide them on the appropriate response. If I just went into lecture mode, I don’t think they’d listen.

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