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The Australian Broadcast Corporation reports:
Australian parents are more worried about their children using social media and technology than drugs, alcohol or smoking, according to new research.
The youth mental health support service ReachOut surveyed parents of 12 to 18-year-olds about their concerns and found that 45 per cent were worried about their children's use of social media.
Technology closely followed at 42 per cent.
In comparison, 25 per cent were worried about their children using drugs, alcohol or smoking. [...] ReachOut surveyed 890 parents in December 2017, a month before the suicide of 14-year-old Amy "Dolly" Everett put cyberbullying on the national agenda.
Mr Nicholas said parents were concerned about the anonymity of social media. "They're really concerned about the nature of bullying that may happen on social media sites and how easy it is given that this is a product that young people are likely to use every day," he said. "That the harm and particularly the psychological harm can be really significant."
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 13 2018, @11:57AM (3 children)
There was this thing called "parenting" but it seems like is going the way of the Dodo, with both parents needing to work to keep their kids at school (and their own parents in retirement homes) and pay a mortgage and an ever-rising electricity bill... and... and...
But this is a short lived problem, this too shall pass... their kids are going to live with the parents, because the "kids" won't be even able to afford to have a family on their own by the time their reproductive age is over. Problem solved.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 13 2018, @12:55PM (2 children)
Ah, the Italian solution...
Seriously, though - the parents all have experience with Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking - they fear what they do not understand.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by edIII on Tuesday March 13 2018, @07:37PM (1 child)
Fear what they do no understand? Perhaps not in this case. That argument has worked for a long time, especially with rock & roll, hippies, etc. The older generation has always been saying the younger generation is the stupidest one yet. There was some variant of "get of my lawn" in the time of the Pharaohs, I'm sure.
However, social media really is quite destructive. Many studies have been made about the psychological effects of superficial conversation and "likes". I think trolls are far more active than they would be in real life, and unlike a school environment, there is very little oversight. The adults can be 10 feet away, but on the Internet, they may as well not exist. In my childhood before the Internet, you could at least get away from the bullies and little shits making fun of you. Home was sanctuary, and the city was big enough that you could hang out with your friends and not run into the assholes making school miserable. These days with wireless coverage there is literally no escape, not even for a second, to children from an online playground where they're being judged by their peers and manipulated by craven executives for more profit.
I think social media has trained people in general to be addicted to very superficial interactions, and engage in unhealthy behaviors. It's a problem for adults, so I can't see why it wouldn't be a problem for kids either.
There are adults that couldn't put their phone down, and their connection to social media, for 2 minutes. Not even long enough to attempt a conversation. I think that is what a generation raised on the Internet has delivered to us. People incapable of driving because they can't focus, and incapable of putting down a phone for longer than 2-3 minutes top.
I think adults understand social media just fine. That's why they're afraid for the children.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 13 2018, @08:31PM
I don't know about your elementary/middle/high school experience, mine was literally full of trolls - not the message board variety, the real life lead somebody on as long as possible to finish with something that tries to make them look foolish type, the tollbooth variety, and many others.
Wow, again, my school experience was one of minimal adult oversight - one teacher to 30 kids, often that teacher wasn't paying attention or was completely out of the room 20% or more of the school day. And then kids also interact outside of school without adult supervision, or at least they did in the 1970s.
Yep, mostly, except when the little shits started crank calling the house. But, how is home not sanctuary today? Trolls on the internet bothering you? Infinite channels, dumping an account and signing up under a new name is way easier than getting the phone company to change your number, and if a forum is a repeat problem, how many other forums are there?
As if toy advertisers didn't own the 4th graders of 1978.
I think people were prone to these behaviors and that social media enables the air brushers and image shapers to indulge in their fantasy world much more deeply than ordinary makeup and party guest lists used to.
The options are ever-present to tune in, turn on, drop out, whichever floats your personal boat. I did get a bit worried in 2013 when I went for a job interview and the entire company had been all through my LinkedIn profile in depth, in that particular case it made me look (accurately) a very good fit for the position, but LinkedIn's skills and ratings system is such a bunch of +1 like horse shit, I worried about the day that not playing that particular game very well might hurt me. It hasn't yet. Another job interviewer (who also hired me) commented "I don't waste time on all that Facebook nonsense, either..." referring to my empty Facebook account, I have one but it's pretty obvious that I've only used it for about 10 minutes in the past 6 years. There will come a day when appropriately crafted and curated Facebook, LinkedIn and other profiles will be essential for good employment opportunities.
Just have faith that, with so many millions, perhaps billions, of idiots out there with insanely bad things hanging out in their online profiles, the world will be adjusting to the idea that we are all human, less than professionally perfect 24x7x365x85, and that's O.K. It does make one wonder about the "bro club" jobs of the future, where a minimum of ten confirmed consecutive black-out drunk nights of partying in the past year is required for consideration.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by choose another one on Tuesday March 13 2018, @12:03PM (1 child)
Remember we're talking about a country where sports fans get annoyed at the imposition of alcohol limits of 24 cans of beer per person per day (or 4 litres of wine).
That must, must, require extensive training from childhood, so of course they aren't worried about their kids and alcohol, they know they are well trained for that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 14 2018, @03:58AM
What you've got to understand is that's a mere slab of light (by Oz standards, ie: ~2.4%) beer. And it's way overpriced to boot. We (nobody) don't need training to drink that stuff, but you do need huge bladders outherwise you spend all you time, umm, making room for the next beer. SO, YOU MISS THE SPORT. That's the problem.
(one day I should really sign up)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @01:24PM (9 children)
While I'm sure that they're fearful of social media for all the wrong reasons, stopped watch effect and all, social media poses significant privacy risks. I am glad I wasn't a teenager in the age of social media. Nothing that happens on social media will ever be forgotten, and it will probably be remembered in ways you can't find out.
What teenagers need these days is strong anonymity. If I had kids, I'd strongly consider getting them on TOR and I2P, tell them that they must never, ever use their real name or address or even say which town they live in. Maybe which state is fine. Never, ever post pictures. Remembering how I was as a teenager, the most difficult thing would be to convince teenagers that they don't need to cultivate any kind of identity. I'd tell my kids that if they must use a handle to create a temporary identity, and they should pick a completely new handle every 6 months or so. Or maybe every year. A year is a long time to a teenager. You get old and the years start going by like hours.
The internet never forgives and never forgets, so I'd want to make sure my kids knew how to maintain their privacy. I was looking at stuff like GNU Social a while back. Does anybody run a GNU Social server on I2P? I mean, we're smoking crack if we think we're going to keep kids off the internet. Might as well do all we can to give them ways to ensure their privacy.
(Score: 3, Touché) by choose another one on Tuesday March 13 2018, @01:31PM
> pick a completely new handle every 6 months or so
Says the guy who's been using the same one for 20 years.
We know who you are Mr AC.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 13 2018, @01:52PM
Pay attention to this advice from AC, folks....
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 13 2018, @02:47PM
Pah! When I was a teenager I was a supercilious twat who would have turned his nose up at such obvious nonsense.
I haven't changed a bit.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Tuesday March 13 2018, @03:27PM (5 children)
Like fuck we do!
Gotta give teenagers contraceptives and encourage to use them. Like... WTF... why have them sexting over Tor/I2P when the natural way is for them to have the real thing - what's the harm in that?
Don't you feel like we push them into the "social media" as a substitute for meaningful direct human relations?
Look - the movies are a strong reflection of the culture of the days when the movies were shot - necessary so, the audience needs to create a rapport even if only with the backdrop if not with the main characters of the movie.
Take:
- Back to the future - 1985 - Marty meets Doc at a shopping mall parking lot in the early morning hours
- Terminator 2 - 1991 - John Connor wanders freely with his pal, his adoptive parents only asks him to be home for dinner; the game arcade is full with unsupervised kids
- American Pie - 1999 - does it need explanations?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @03:29PM (1 child)
That too.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 13 2018, @03:33PM
If, after they have that, they need something else, something is terrible wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Wednesday March 14 2018, @02:04AM (2 children)
I think my personal record, back in the 80s, was around 6 hours on the phone with one girl--I don't think I said more than "Hey" or "Hi" to her face-to-face until after I graduated.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday March 14 2018, @02:19AM (1 child)
Just from curiosity: do you think of your experience as representative for the generation at the time?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Touché) by darnkitten on Wednesday March 14 2018, @02:46AM
Not necessarily (I remember myself as more being shy than most) but teens spending hours talking on the phone to the next-door neighbour has been a cliche since at least the 1940s, and talking while facing away from each other on the porch swing for even longer. I remember even the more popular kids saying they "talked for hours" on the phone, both to friends and to boyfriends/girlfriends.
I think many teens find communication (or conversation, which to them is the same thing) easier when mediated in some fashion. Face-to-face can get so intense.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 13 2018, @02:08PM (9 children)
To bad the internet doesn't have that. Every "victim" is forced by nature to stay connected, and to stay on the same "channel" that the cyberbullies use. There is no escape. Even good parents can't protect their children now. If you child becomes a victim of cyberbullying, you would do just as well to shoot the kid dead, instead of waiting around for the inevitable suicide.
</sarcasm> (some people miss those tags, LMAO!)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @02:45PM (1 child)
Of course it has an off switch. [turnofftheinternet.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 13 2018, @03:31PM
't's borken. Proof: I'm able to post even after pushing it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 13 2018, @02:55PM (5 children)
Pop the bubble of the internet being this great and magical thing, and maybe they'll learn to just use it as a tool, rather than a way of life, to be in control of it, rather than have it control them.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday March 13 2018, @07:20PM (1 child)
First, just pretend that I clicked: [x] Post Anonymously
when posting this. I almost did post it anonymously.
That is true. Anything said by an anonymous person is unreliable. But things proudly proclaimed by an identifiable conspiracy theorist, science denier, flat earther or homeopathy practitioner are absolutely reliable.
My point: the reliability is unrelated to whether you can identify the source or not.
Can you independently verify the standard model of the atom? Can you independently verify that we've actually ever landed a spacecraft on Mars, or even the moon? Can you independently verify that vaccines do far more good than harm?
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday March 14 2018, @01:36AM
what are you gibbering on about? now reread the bit of my post you removed from before the quoted bit.
> Can you independently verify the standard model of the atom?
I can find independent verification, yes. That's what helped it become the standard model.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Wednesday March 14 2018, @02:16AM (2 children)
Except for the fact that, to those same children, everything said by an adult in authority, particularly a parent is bullshit unless they independently verify it on the internet. (from observation of a six- and a twelve-year-old in their natural habitats)
Added to that, Google (or Facebook, etc.) is more likely to serve up search results confirming or supporting said internet bullshit because they are related to what the children were viewing last. Refutation and/or information literacy don't lead to repeated hits and associated ad sales.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday March 14 2018, @02:52AM (1 child)
However, I still maintain that a healthy dose of cynicism is a useful thing to impart. But yes, it will be used against you. This is not new, the endless loop of "but why?" is a related precursor. Maybe that's where the questioning gets killed - before the questions have evolved into their adult form?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Wednesday March 14 2018, @04:24AM
And I agree completely. As a librarian, I am constantly trying to impart the tiniest bit of information literacy to my patrons (or to my Board, for that matter >:P ), and it would be better if we could teach them when their opinions haven't hardened into mental stone. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how one would teach information literacy on Sesame Street.
Certainly, I don't get to them until after the damage has been done, and I see very few parents or teachers who are capable of teaching children reasonable skepticism.
-
Also, bad information well presented is very seductive, especially to someone who has a need for some sort of exclusive knowledge no one else has, which describes both conspiracy theorists and preteens/teens, as my own teenage self could attest.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 15 2018, @08:00AM
Yeah as far as I'm concerned social media is safer than what kids were doing in previous decades. Certainly safer than getting involved/caught up in gang warfare.
There will always be a few that kill themselves due to bullying. But they'd still have the same problem without social media if not worse.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday March 13 2018, @04:10PM (2 children)
I would have figured that the threat Australian parents were most worried about was either wildlife or their crazy form of football. Dingoes didn't even register.
This all suggests that the Aussies at the very least aren't running around jumping at mostly-imaginary threats.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 13 2018, @05:06PM
Believe me, after one gets over the taste of Vegemite and survives, those two become trifles.
By comparison, you may even get to enjoy catching saltwater crocs [abc.net.au] for a living.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MostCynical on Tuesday March 13 2018, @08:39PM
Regular bullying causes harm, and somets suicide, but parents and schools have many years of experience in dealing with harm mitigation and generally "dealing with it"
Several well-reported cases of suicide after cyberbullying show that parents and schools are hopelessly lost in managing, mitigating, or even identifying cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying kills, and is hard to manage. Thus the fear.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @05:21PM (2 children)
this is basically just a poll that illustrates how brainwashed Aussies are. (the US is following the same trajectory.) they are just regurgitating fake news, bullying, hate speech, etc propaganda being spoon fed to them. Just like grandparents let their kids shoot their grandchildren up with vaccines even though one grandchild from each child has "autism" shortly thereafter. Instead of stopping more of their grandchildren from being brain damaged, they wave the rainbow flag and bleat it away as an unavoidable medical mystery, begging the "scientists" for more poison.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @05:58PM
i sort of thought parents would say hey this is a reason to stop paying for the kids phones and get a real computer they can do homework on.
kids will hate it, and will learn valuable skills getting free access off cheap or stolen stuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 14 2018, @04:37AM
More importantly it points to the genetic predisposition to autism has likely come from the grandparents. Vaccination, not so much.
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Wednesday March 14 2018, @02:24AM (1 child)
I expect parents polled in the fifties would have said something similar about comics, parents in the eighties about D&D, Parents in the 1500s about backgammon, etc.
-
(yes, backgammon--can't remember which book I read it in, but apparently, Dutch parents and religious leaders blamed that particular scourge for everything from teen pregnancy to youth violence...)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Rivenaleem on Thursday March 22 2018, @03:39PM
Except all those parents would have been wrong. These parents understand the perils of drink, drugs and smoking, and how to teach their kids how to avoid it. The real concern here is the known danger of social media (privacy etc.) vs. how to arm your kid against these dangers. They are right to be worried, because it's harder to explain to your child why it can be dangerous sharing information on facebook than it is to explain smoking or alcohol.