The recent postings on Facebook with regard to a mother's choice of administering a consequence to her daughter's actions have sparked many responses, and it has been quite enlightening how the voices of the youth differ in their perception to the adults in our society. Certainly food for thought!
But there is one common thread that almost everyone agrees with–those pictures and videos should never have been posted on Facebook. Things of a private nature should never be put in the public arena. And I believe this is the fundamental lesson that should be learnt from this entire experience.Twelve-year old children do not have the maturity nor the prudence to make the best choices when it comes to social networking.
Many parents are aware of this, and one of the suggestions has been that the parent joins Facebook as well and have the child as a "friend".This strategy has been employed by quite a few parents, but their reality has been that they do find out or see the pictures and videos, but usually after the fact, when the damage has already been done. So what else can be employed?
A few parents have said that they will determine at what age and stage their child will have access to Facebook based upon their observed maturity and level of responsibility.Kudos to those parents! But there is a little gap in the institution and execution of that particular mandate–it is called the laptops given by the Ministry of Education.
To be fair, the social media is also accessible via the smart phones, which are purchased by the parents (and need to monitored as such). Though not every child in Forms 1 to 4 have those phones, everyone who did SEA has a laptop.I wonder how many parents are aware of how many children use their laptops mainly for social networking and games, and how many parents are in fact, capable of checking.
As a parent of two children who received laptops, I am fully aware of the time, as well as knowledge necessary to be able to keep track.I personally prefer them not to use them at all, except when the school requests (and that has not been in a very long time).I guarantee that the girl's photo was not the first of that nature, and there are many other issues of a private nature that young children give out on Facebook, from home addresses to other private data, all in an effort to be popular and draw attention to themselves.
All at the click of a button! It is that easy to join Facebook or any other social media.Once again I plead, if these laptops must be given out, please give them to a more mature age group that has a greater need, and also a greater sense of responsibility and prudence.
Also, please re-consider the idea of distributing tablets to primary school children. I believe most of what we are reaping now is directly related to the messages that our young people receive from the media, and we must be held accountable for the many avenues to access that we continue to put before them.
Tonia Gooding
via e-mail