These children have apparently banded (or perhaps the better word is herded) together in online groups with such delightful names as
KEEP PARENTS OFF FACEBOOK!!!(yes, all caps and three exclamation points) and
PARENTS GET OFF FACEBOOKand the ever-popular
Eek! My mom is on facebook!(and yes, "mom" and "facebook" were not initially capitalized).
On some of their Facebook pages are such droll comments as
PARENT FREE ZONEand
MOMS WITH FACEBOOKS ARE STALKERS. LEAVE USHear their plaintive cry!
AAAAAAALLLLLLLLOOOOOONNNNNNEEEEEEEEEE!
It seems the young folk are upset that their parents might see their Facebook pages with the writings, the gossip, and the pictures of them drinking and partying and perhaps even (though they didn't show it in the video) running around in the altogether. It also seems that they, like so many adolescents, have a rather low opinion of their parents' intelligence:
"So it was really weird when my Mom got on it because I didn't know she'd know how to do it."Here's a bit of sage advice from a parent of college students: We're not anywhere near as stupid and technologically incompetent as you think. My 90-year-old grandfather is online. Maybe he'll send you a "friend" request.
Oh, and here's another bit of advice: If you don't want your parents to see you drinking and partying and whatnot, don't post pictures of yourself doing those things. It's rather simple, no?
One of these kids actually had the da noive to ignore the request when her father tried to "friend" her. Yes, you read that correctly. A forty-plus-year-old man actually used the word "friend" as a verb. I can understand that from illiterate college students, but he's old enough to know better. However, I shall temper my disdain somewhat because he then printed up a t-shirt reading "My daughter won't friend me".
No, I will not apologize for putting the period outside the quote. I may be a Grammar Nazi but I still have a rebellious streak and a finely honed sense of right and wrong. More or less.
But being a conscientious parent and wanting only the best for the next generation, I will supply one last bit of parental wisdom.
"Some young people say having their parents on their Facebook page is like giving them a key to their online diary."The bit of wisdom is this: "online" and "diary" are concepts best kept well apart. If you're going to write down your innermost thoughts, your secret fantasies, your backstabbing gossip, it's really best to do it privately. You never know who might read it.
7 comments:
The thing that kills me about some of these younguns is how it doesn't occur to a lot of them that *other people can read this stuff.* People who don't know you. People who can arrest you. I was amazed at the number of people saying "Yeah, 420 baby!!!" back in April. Hello, moron. You have just announced to the world that you smoke marijuana. Dumbass.
I can understand kids wanting a place where they can keep things separate from their parents. I wouldn't have wanted my dad reading our old Great Perv-Off competition from I forget which year. But that's why I never told him about Pints. Facebook is pretty innocuous and there's nothing there your parents shouldn't be allowed to see - and there are settings so that certain things can only be visible to certain friends, etc. There's no reason to be that disrespectful to your parents.
Ohhhh yes. I've had more conversations than I've wanted to, with both adults and kids/teens, about how kids/teens don't seem to get the concept that what you post online can be read by everyone.
Now that I think about it, I remember having a secret code with a friend of mine when we were middle-school aged--we'd write letters to each other, and we'd code the parts we didn't want her sisters to read (because she caught her sisters reading her mail).
Get creative, kids. You have more instruments at your disposal than we did at your age. And probably more money.
BTW if you're under your parents' roof, using a computer they bought for you, eating their food, etc., your parents should be allowed to see what you're up to. (Not that they should hover and smother, however.) Honestly, some of these kids have no idea how awesome it is that their parents have an actual interest in their family.
Ken, I love that your grandfather is online. Mine is, too--he's in his late 80s. Granted, he tends to send me e-mails written in all caps, but that's probably appropriate given how hard of hearing he is. (He's also an excitable Sicilian.)
An excitable octagenarian Sicilian online. Why do I find that so cool?
Em, you will, no doubt, understand why I kept The Great Perv-Off of 2004* away from the Sainted Bride.
*Assuming. I exported the entire lot and searched it but I suspect it was deleted earlier. Oh well. Maybe we'll have another sometime.
Yeah, it's not totally surprising, considering he's an engineer--not intimidated by technology.
He does, however, have a bit of an obsession with his glucose meter.
Took me all weekend to stop by, Ken, but forgive me, I was shopping for ammo, reloading supplies, and guns....
I see your point here. When you post to Facebook (I don't, but I have an account to satisfy my relatives), it's TO THE WORLD. I found that out on office web pages. But, somehow, people (adults and kids) expect privacy on line.
To which I respond, "WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT!?!?!?!?! Put your diary on line, and it'll be a movie next year!"
There's an old saw that every generation seems to think they invented sex. The same seems to be true for computers as well. (A disturbing thought that does not bode well for the continuance of our species.)
You crack me up :-)
Of course the kiddies aren't in the least worried that potential future EMPLOYERS might see scenes of their drunken debauchery online, but they're worried about their parents seeing it.
My parents don't read my blog but I think their only complaint about it would be that I say "ass," "damn," and "pissed off" a little too often.
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