Social media is easily the greatest source of potential harm for young people going right now. When we were in school your missteps - or bullies - followed you through the school day and that was more-or-less it. These days those same things have constant and pervasive access to you. Young people need protection and guidance through social media and its use far more than they need protection from skinned knees and tackle football games. Parents must become much more familiar and much more vigilant regarding their children using social media. Don't think that becoming facebook friends with your child is enough - kids don't really seem to use it any more. The things you should worry about would be Instagram, ask.fm, and Snapchat (easily the scariest thing going for young people as far as I'm concerned).
Why do we let our children use pieces of technology in the privacy of their bedrooms or away from our supervision but not walk home from school alone or ride bikes from friends' houses alone? The difference in the potential for harm between these things is overwhelming. The vast majority of parents are worrying about the wrong things and thinking that they are actually doing a great job of protecting their children.
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