If you restrict social media for your teens

[Anonymous]

I would love to see how parents are restricting anything their kids are doing in college. But then again, I've seen this helicopter parent facebook groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know times have changed a little, but I have 2 college students and by the time they reached high school, I did not restrict social media except to have time/room limits to their phones (plug phones in downstairs before bed).

They are both well adjusted college students that do not abuse their phones.

But there was a several month phase where one of my kids really went crazy on fortnight - playing way too much but he ended up self regulating and now is much more controlled. My strategy is let them learn to self-regulate but I get that is different from what others like and are comfortable doing.

Wait - you just gave them tiktok, insta, etc throughout high school ??

OMG

PP here - not sure if the OMG is real or not. I don't think tik tok was a thing when my kids started high school (they are 22 and 20) and yes, they did have instagram in high school. I followed their accounts and we were open about issues and problems and my kids talk to me, but yes, they were allowed social media in high school and now they are adjusted college students. I do think it's a little different now - there wasn't really youtube and scrolling the way there is now, but instagram actually seems kind of tame and the kids turned out all right....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know times have changed a little, but I have 2 college students and by the time they reached high school, I did not restrict social media except to have time/room limits to their phones (plug phones in downstairs before bed).

They are both well adjusted college students that do not abuse their phones.

But there was a several month phase where one of my kids really went crazy on fortnight - playing way too much but he ended up self regulating and now is much more controlled. My strategy is let them learn to self-regulate but I get that is different from what others like and are comfortable doing.

Wait - you just gave them tiktok, insta, etc throughout high school ??

OMG

PP here - not sure if the OMG is real or not. I don't think tik tok was a thing when my kids started high school (they are 22 and 20) and yes, they did have instagram in high school. I followed their accounts and we were open about issues and problems and my kids talk to me, but yes, they were allowed social media in high school and now they are adjusted college students. I do think it's a little different now - there wasn't really youtube and scrolling the way there is now, but instagram actually seems kind of tame and the kids turned out all right....

I think what you did is totally fine, but there definitely was YouTube and scrolling back then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know times have changed a little, but I have 2 college students and by the time they reached high school, I did not restrict social media except to have time/room limits to their phones (plug phones in downstairs before bed).

They are both well adjusted college students that do not abuse their phones.

But there was a several month phase where one of my kids really went crazy on fortnight - playing way too much but he ended up self regulating and now is much more controlled. My strategy is let them learn to self-regulate but I get that is different from what others like and are comfortable doing.

Wait - you just gave them tiktok, insta, etc throughout high school ??

OMG

PP here - not sure if the OMG is real or not. I don't think tik tok was a thing when my kids started high school (they are 22 and 20) and yes, they did have instagram in high school. I followed their accounts and we were open about issues and problems and my kids talk to me, but yes, they were allowed social media in high school and now they are adjusted college students. I do think it's a little different now - there wasn't really youtube and scrolling the way there is now, but instagram actually seems kind of tame and the kids turned out all right....

Other committed suicide and Insta has been proven to contribute to teen suicide - especially among teen girls.

Google it.

[Anonymous]

While they still live at home, we keep talking about the pros/cons of social media vs real life. Instill and model good habits while they live with you and are young enough to listen. Once they go to college, all you can do is hope you've taught them well and hope they make good choices. Even adults struggle with social media and screen addiction. Lots of temptation in this world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see how parents are restricting anything their kids are doing in college. But then again, I've seen this helicopter parent facebook groups.

They are going to freak out when they learn they can't access their kids' medical records once they turn 18.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see how parents are restricting anything their kids are doing in college. But then again, I've seen this helicopter parent facebook groups.

They are going to freak out when they learn they can't access their kids' medical records once they turn 18.

Are you referring to me? I'm the PP who didn't let her teens have TikTok, Insta, and SnapChat. I didn't freak out when they went to college, and I am well aware that I don't have access to their medical records anymore. I have never tracked my kids through Life360 or findmyphone. I don't care that they signed up for Instagram after high school. But I am very glad that we restricted phone use and social media use through high school. They play lots of sports and developed other hobbies in their spare time. I am glad they are not phone zombies like many other teens. (I am a HS teacher and see lots and lots of teens.)

[Anonymous]

The fear of TT on here is so insane. Have any of you who think it is a Chinese mind control app that steals your personal info ever used the app?

Crazy restrictive parenting is so ineffective. I simply don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, my DD is a freshman and reports all the girls at her school whose parents don’t allow social media have Snapchat at the least. Some also have Instagram and/or Tic Tok. They set them up on friends devices and just don’t log in on their own phones. They can check Snapchat at school a few different ways.

This doesn't seem so bad to me because presumably it's much more limited than having full access at home.

[Anonymous]

The original question is kind of silly. There are all kinds of things we don’t allow minors to do that might be fine, or that we hope they’ve learned are a bad idea, they’re over 18 & away at college.

My son is 15 and so far has no interest in social media. He doesn’t really watch YouTube either (does listen to music from it, though). I’ve told him if he wants social media, just talk to me first. Sure, it’s possible he has some elaborate scheme of sneaking it, but I don’t even know when he’d have time. He does text with friends and play online chess with friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Community college and live at home. Phone is in the kitchen as soon as they get home.

They are grown ass adults

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, my DD is a freshman and reports all the girls at her school whose parents don’t allow social media have Snapchat at the least. Some also have Instagram and/or Tic Tok. They set them up on friends devices and just don’t log in on their own phones. They can check Snapchat at school a few different ways.

This doesn't seem so bad to me because presumably it's much more limited than having full access at home.

Most just use old iPhones on wifi at home. Either find one st home or teens sell these burner phones at school for like $25. I see a lot of trade offs.

- teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fear of TT on here is so insane. Have any of you who think it is a Chinese mind control app that steals your personal info ever used the app?

Crazy restrictive parenting is so ineffective. I simply don't get it.

No one seems to be more "afraid" of TikTok than other social media sites in terms of Chinese mind control. We just don't like having our teens waste hours and hours of their day watching it.

[Anonymous]

Your kids are going to be drafted at 18 now. Having their gentials inspected by the white men pedo party to do sports and you are worried about social
Media ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, my DD is a freshman and reports all the girls at her school whose parents don’t allow social media have Snapchat at the least. Some also have Instagram and/or Tic Tok. They set them up on friends devices and just don’t log in on their own phones. They can check Snapchat at school a few different ways.

This doesn't seem so bad to me because presumably it's much more limited than having full access at home.

Most just use old iPhones on wifi at home. Either find one st home or teens sell these burner phones at school for like $25. I see a lot of trade offs.

- teacher

Seems like you can whitelist specific devices on your router to avoid that problem.