Five Reasons Why My Children Won't be on Facebook Until 16+

Hey Y'all,

I haven't done a Five reasons why post in forever. Today's post is prompted by an article I read about yet another young person who took their life because of cyber bulling.

5 Reasons Why My Children Won't be on Facebook

 (or any other social media site) Until 16+

I of course searched the net for legal reasons etc and found a great article on Your Sphere For Parents which lists Three Good Reasons Why Your Child Shouldn't Be on Facebook, which are privacy, inappropriate content, and COPPA which is an Internet privacy law called The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. COPPA, was put in place for a reason: to protect the personal information of children online. I work in advertising and clients were often upset that they couldn't target 13 year old girls for products they were trying to market to children. It's DANGEROUS to have young children on line point blank PERIOD!

Here are MrsDeveter's 5 reasons why my children won't be on Facebook (or any other social media site) are as follows.

1. Sexual Predators - Men and women are still trolling the internet looking for willing participants to fulfill their sexual desires. They are seeking out unassuming young people who are clueless about their last history test so forget about someone making sexual advances on them. A 13 year old girl should NOT be posting pictures of herself in a bikini in the dressing room of Abercrombie and Fitch! I don't care if you are standing right there as she snaps the shot it just shouldn't be done. Pedophiles are real! They are abusing our children and many are causing parents like this mother to almost kill them. My children will not be put in a position where they are unsafe. So nope they won't be on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or the like for a very long time.
2. Cyber Bulling - It shouldn't be but it's REAL and most times it begins with a photo. Camera phones in my opinion are the WORST and best thing that ever happened to mobile devices. I am a picture taker. I find myself snapping shots on average five to six times a day, forget about if we are on an outing it's way more. Children however can find themselves in bad situations, post a picture of someone without their knowledge and shed a negative light on them. A young girl made a bad decision to participate in a end of summer party, got drunk, passed out and boys took advantage of her sexually. Pictures were posted to Facebook and the young woman took her life. Now there is a family without a child and some more parents who children have been charged with a crime. Don't get me wrong the girl could have still gone to the party, gotten drunk and been photographed without the use of social media. The fact is social media WAS used and her life was put on display for all to see. She felt degraded for something she couldn't even remember and ended her life because of the shame. 

10 Things you should NOT share or ask on social networks

Hey Y'all:

Recently I have had two distinct experiences on facebook that caused me to pause. The first one was a  co-worker finding out about her deceased grandmother via facebook chat, the second was a former co- working asking if I was pregnant based on a picture I uploaded. Both of these in my opinion were out of order! 

How in the world do you think it’s OK to tell someone that their grandmother has passed via a social network?  Sure you can do it with a celebrity, old classmate or even ex-lover but your biological grandmother? I mean really people; what’s wrong with picking up the phone and sharing this information. I would even settle for a text message but a facebook chat??? Unreal!

So here is MrsDeveter’s list of things you shouldn’t say, share, post or ask on social networks which include but are not limited to - facebook, twitter, myspace, blackplanet, Google+, linkedin and foursquare

10. Are you pregnant? – first of all… if you are my friend on facebook and you haven’t seen me post anything in my status about being pregnant; nine times out of ten that picture that you saw of me must not have been a flattering one and made my belly look a lot bigger than normal. However this does not give you free range to ask me if I’m with child – in the comments section of the darn picture where EVERYONE can see. Asking a  woman if she is pregnant is rude and inappropriate and quite frankly (as the receiver) quite hurtful. 

9.  Any content related to sex. No one wants to hear how good or bad your partner is in bed. It’s none of our business and you should be ashamed sharing it! These celebrities who are constantly putting their bedroom antics out in the public are wrong people don’t follow in their misguided footsteps.

8. Birth Photos. Yes we want to see the baby but not when they are making their way out of the womb! You may be the proud parent but most of us are completely grossed out seeing the birthing process. Keep the process to yourself and share the cleaned up photo of your precious little bundle. 

7. I hate you. Never share your breakups, arguments or any negative content on social sites. If you are an adult act like one! I was involved in a facebook conflict with a family member and quickly unfriended the person – picked up the phone to continue our dispute. Social networks are visited by to many people (potential employers, current employers, spiritual leaders, your children etc) it really isn’t a good look to air your dirty laundry on them. 

6. Anything abuse related. Parents we are all tasked with disciplining our children; however the world does not need to know what you did to Johnny when he stuffed the entire roll of toilet paper down the toilet causing a major backup and flooding the entire bathroom. I know what I would do but I don’t think the powers that be should hear about your methods of discipline. I’m just saying…