Kids and Instagram - do you allow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ummm no Instagram, Facebook, twitter, vine or any of the like. She/he can have whatever they like at the age of 18.

You clearly have a younger child because this is entirely unrealistic. Once kids get to high school there are official functions that are only communicated via facebook. Also EVERYONE is on these networks so your child will be socially isolated unless he is as well. Finally, you don't teach your child internet safety by banning it all together -- you teach internet safety by allowing it when they are old enough and easing them in with some monitoring and lots of discussion. But you will see this when your children get older. There is no question in my mind that you will change your mind.

My DS was on at 13 and came to us when he was troubled by a communication from an adult that he knew. We stepped in and everything was taken care of but I was glad that he knew he could come to us and that his antenna was up when something wasn't right.

+1000 My kid has been on Instagram since the age of 13 and we haven't had any problems.

[Anonymous]

I think its fine at age 13, but my 9 yo is not allowed.

[Anonymous]

Instagram starting in 6th, Twitter in 7th and no Face book until HS, if then, bc FB just sucks.(and I am the black hawk of helicopter moms). If your kids have iPhones, set their photos to upload to the cloud--you'll see everything they post on instagram or even take any pictures of. Tell them you'll be following them--but keep tabs on it on iPhoto in the cloud photo stream. They're still kids and they will make mistakes. I believe you can delete from your computer as well.

[Anonymous]

I log on to DD's account from my ipad or desktop and scan the content as I prefer to see what she's exposed to instead of simply following her. Make sure your DC has a lockekd profile and only accepts invitations to be followed from people they know.

[Anonymous]

Nothing til 13 except twitter. And my son uses that as a news feed, not to post. He isn't following friends or vice versa.

The only thing he's expressed interest in is Instagram. Nobody seems too interested in facebook (yet?)

[Anonymous]

Can I just say THANK YOU to other parents who don't allow Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. before age 13? Thank you, thank you, thank you for teaching your kids to follow the rules of these sites. I'm telling my children that they may not have accounts on these sites because children under 13 are not allowed, period. But it really undermines that argument when so many other parents allow kids to break those rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ummm no Instagram, Facebook, twitter, vine or any of the like. She/he can have whatever they like at the age of 18.

You clearly have a younger child because this is entirely unrealistic. Once kids get to high school there are official functions that are only communicated via facebook. Also EVERYONE is on these networks so your child will be socially isolated unless he is as well. Finally, you don't teach your child internet safety by banning it all together -- you teach internet safety by allowing it when they are old enough and easing them in with some monitoring and lots of discussion. But you will see this when your children get older. There is no question in my mind that you will change your mind.

My DS was on at 13 and came to us when he was troubled by a communication from an adult that he knew. We stepped in and everything was taken care of but I was glad that he knew he could come to us and that his antenna was up when something wasn't right.

This is so true PP. It's a teaching opportunity for tools they'll use throughout their lives, not something you need to protect your children from. I would add, that twitter is fast replacing FB as way to communicate about high school activities. In a few years they may be using something else.

I let my 7th grader get an instagram (my other two are in high school and already fairly experienced with social media--one loves it, the other can't be bothered) with the proviso that I had to follow him. So far he's had fun with it and most of what he put on their was appropriate. One picture I questioned led to a very interesting discussion and he took it down -- again I think there is no other way for them to learn to use it appropriately.

Also, you can have you kid make their instagram account private -- that way only their friends can see what they post and you can tell them not to let people they don't know follow them, thus eliminating the adult strangers another poster was talking about. I do notice a lot of parents follow their kids friends, but I tend to draw the line here. I think kids need their own space within reason.

[Anonymous]

My 11 yr old has had an Instagram account since she was 9. I don't really monitor it. She's not posting titty shots or anything. It's all cute pics of dressed up cats and shit. Or How-To videos (though maybe she does those on Youtube?) for art projects.

[Anonymous]

Are most kids okay with having their parents follow them? My instinct if I were a kid would be to have another secret account, but maybe kids are different these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are most kids okay with having their parents follow them? My instinct if I were a kid would be to have another secret account, but maybe kids are different these days.

Some have secret accounts but they are friends with all their same friends, so if you surf around a bit you can find them. Others just set privacy settings on certain posts to hide it from you. Which is why having their password is important. Or they just message people through any of these apps, and you can't see those unless you sign on as your child.

[Anonymous]

Yep, we allow it. Not a big deal. She posts pics of her and her friends and other stuff like scenery.

[Anonymous]

We (adults) don't do facebook. Our MS kids don't either. We have discussed and they don't seem too interested. It has not hindered their (or our) social lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We (adults) don't do facebook. Our MS kids don't either. We have discussed and they don't seem too interested. It has not hindered their (or our) social lives.

I suspect you don't work out of the home. FB, Twitter, Instagram are all used by businesses now. It's like bragging that you still wrote you papers in MS instead of typing them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We (adults) don't do facebook. Our MS kids don't either. We have discussed and they don't seem too interested. It has not hindered their (or our) social lives.

I suspect you don't work out of the home. FB, Twitter, Instagram are all used by businesses now. It's like bragging that you still wrote you papers in MS instead of typing them.

??? Why do you need to be signed up to any of these services if you work out of the home? Does your boss send you assignments over Instagram?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We (adults) don't do facebook. Our MS kids don't either. We have discussed and they don't seem too interested. It has not hindered their (or our) social lives.

I suspect you don't work out of the home. FB, Twitter, Instagram are all used by businesses now. It's like bragging that you still wrote you papers in MS instead of typing them.

??? Why do you need to be signed up to any of these services if you work out of the home? Does your boss send you assignments over Instagram?

NP here -- anyone that works in communications/public affairs is likely using social media as part of their communications efforts. Social media sites include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube (channels), and Pinterest at a minimum. Might even add Flickr to that list.