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Social media misconduct

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mazmaz

Social media misconduct

My  Daughter set up a false account on Snapchat pretending to be a boy.  She then messaged a friend of hers and asked her to send photos of herself which she did.   My daughter showed all her friends and one of them told the teacher at school.  So now the school is involved which is fine as that will make her understand how wrong her actions were.  I have no idea how to deal with this.   Help... What should I do?  

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Portia_RO

Re: Social media misconduct

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Hi @mazmaz , that sounds like a tricky situation with your daughter. It can be really challenging to set up clear boundaries around social media use (let alone monitor them) because teens can be so private about the choices they make online. Have you and your daughter had a discussion about what expectations you have of her when using social media and communicating with people online? 

 

I'm sorry that things escalated to the extent that the school had to become involved but you're right, perhaps this will help her to recognise that pretending to be someone else online and requesting photos can be very damaging. How did your daughter respond to the school becoming involved and you finding out what she did?

 

I can imagine that it's really tough to know that your teen has acted in a way that doesn't align with your values. How are you feeling given everything that's been going on? 

 

If you think it might be useful, here's an article on how to prevent your teen from engaging in social media bullying. I'm certainly not trying to label your daughter's behaviour as bullying since I only know a few details about this situation, but the article has some handy tips about talking to teens about how they choose to use their online accounts so feel free to check it out.