Next Wednesday Wrap! Helping your teen use social media safely!

[Ngaio-RO]

@Chalke5 It's weird right. Like I remember loving my friends and definitely preferring them over my parents but I'm not sure I could have maintained that much interaction.

Maybe I could have but I remember liking time alone. I swear my 14 year old is never technically alone. And if her phone breaks, it's like losing a limb.

[Beingme2017]

That's the issue isn't it @Chalke5 but then you watch adults and its the same.

Everywhere you look - adults are walking around on their phones, in the cars on their phones, at bustops, on the train, waiting at doctors surgeries.

Its little wonder that the generations are following suit even more so.

When I see mere babies with a phone or ipad in their hand to keep them quiet it worries me because our kids wont be able to just "be".

That said we do have to embrace it and realise it isn't like when we grew up and as much as we don't want them on technology all the time - its here to stay and its what our culture is now. its all about management and balance I guess

[Ngaio-RO]

Hey @LaurenPiro I'm interested to know where you think the responsibility lies in terms of keeping young people safe.

Is it up to the parents to learn how these things work or should it be the companies who design them, to make them inherently safe for people to use?

What do you think?

And parents?

[Ngaio-RO]

That's so true @Beingme2017 And I'm the first to put my hand up as a parent who uses technology as a babysitter.

But my 7 year old has NO capacity to sit in a car and look out the window. He finds it excruciating.

[Beingme2017]

@Ngaio-RO I feel these companies have a duty of care to stop making features that encourage vulnerable youth being in a difficult situation. The fact is there are sexual predators out there and there are people who abuse technology

Why do these companies make features that enable kids to be located. Why are we making the world like this - so instant, so sexualised?

[LovingThruBlue]

My kids always have their phones nearby & my daughter usually has it in her hand. She is definately addicted but to be honest I don't think my 17 yo son or myself are far behind. Especially when I'm not with my daughter (who I need to know can always contact me in an instant) I can't bear to be away from it. I do insist her phone is in the lounge overnight on school nights though. 

[taokat]

My dad's funny @Beingme2017. He loves telling his story of being at the shopping centre walking along and someone on their mobile just kept walking towards him, head down completely oblivious to where she was going. Dad just stopped and stood still and she walked right into him.

[Ngaio-RO]

I agree with you @Beingme2017 It's not that I think someone else should keep my child safe but when i hear about companies that flagrantly disregard safety to save or make money it angers me.

Then you get companies like Lego who are building a youth community and they are using best practice child psycholgy principles to do it.

One of the things they've done is to take away the 'dislike' button. Kids share pics of the stuff they build and you can only comment with emoticons. They went thrugh and pulled out anything that could be used to create a negative response.

[taokat]

I think I'd like to be able to track my daughter's location if she didn't show up at home on time. But can see the security risks involved as well. 

[Beingme2017]

@Ngaio-RO haha I think any parent who says they don't use technology as a babysitter just might be fibbing!

But that said, the issue its becoming just the norm. It used to be tv. But now everything is portable so it happens so much more!