A question for those of you who maintain Facebook
or other social networking accounts: how many of
you friend your parents? How many of you would
friend your parents if you were still a teenager? I'm
friends with my mom on Facebook, but I can't say
for certain whether I would if I were 16. According
to a new survey by Retrevo, almost half of parents
say that they're friends with their teenagers on social
networks.
Retrevo surveyed more than 1,000 adults in the US
and found that parents not only want to learn more
about their kids through technology, they also have
solid opinions on how their kids should use it. Even
though parents aren't always as savvy as their kids,
they generally know how to wield the social
networking carrot and stick within the home in
order to elicit desired behaviors.
For example, 12 percent of surveyed parents ban
social networking as a form of punishment, and 18
percent ban all Internet usage. This is creeping very
close to the 22 percent who nix TV, showing that
parents understand how valuable Internet access is
to their teens. (Forty-seven percent "talk with their
kids" as punishment -- it's unclear whether the
talking itself is the punishment, or if that's just to
communicate the punishment.)
Additionally, 29 percent of all parents ban the use of
mobile phones and texting while at the table. That
number goes up to 36 percent for parents of
teenagers. That figure is actually lower than we
expected though -- perhaps many teenagers know
that if they don't overdo it, they can get away with a
text every so often.
Still, many parents see the value in trying to "friend"
their kids on social networks, even though it might
be a bit awkward at times. According to Retrevo,
most parents who are Facebook friends with their
kids have teenagers -- only 8 percent of parents said
kids under 12 should have Facebook accounts in the
first place -- and they say that they learn a lot about
their teens this way.
This, of course, is part of the reason why 52 percent
of teens don't friend their parents on Facebook, but
let me give those teenagers a tip: you can make
your parents happy by friending them, and make
liberal use of Facebook's privacy controls. Win-win!
source.cnn.com
