Language on Instagram Posts -- WWYD

[Anonymous]

I monitor my DS's Instagram account. Some of his friends (mostly girls) use the F word constantly and use language that hints at sexual innuendo. Some of these girls are daughters of friends. Ages range between 14 and 15.

As for DS, his posts have been respectful and he never uses profanity. And his male friends are really not that bad either. It's really just this handful of girls. And because DS has don't nothing wrong, I don't feel any action is necessary.

As for the daughters of my friends...should I just keep my mouth shut? I just don't think I have the nerve to say anything to them or even to DS.

[Anonymous]

Screenshots and anonymous emails to the parents.

[Anonymous]

Talk to your son about it. Ask him what he thinks when he sees them using that kind of language. Ask him whether he thinks that type of thing has any repercussions. Tell him you are proud of how he conducts himself.

[Anonymous]

They're 15. Leave them alone.

[Anonymous]

I talk to my ds about leaving an Internet trail that can be accessed by future employers, colleges, etc. My ds also has some very good friends who are very conservative. I talk to him about balancing what they are comfortable seeing with some of his other friends - so on Facebook he does not like things the conservatives would be uncomfortable with (the f word usually).

[Anonymous]

As long as "bad" language isn't being used to attack anyone, I don't see anything wrong with just using the words. I wouldn't nitpick this, especially by that age. Of course they sometimes talk tike that, I know by that age my friends and I did.

This isn't harmful to anyone and thus in my opinion isn't a problem or a big deal.

And since you say your D'S isn't partcipating, I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to report on the behaviors of other people unless those behaviors were causing my kid a problem and needed to be addressed.

[Anonymous]

Leave them alone.

[Anonymous]

Let the girls' parents police their Instagram accounts. Or not. It's not really any of your business. Your son probably doesn't use that kind of language because you monitor his account.

[Anonymous]

One of my colleagues (I'm a teacher) had a MySpace page in college, and she apparently stopped using it without making it private, and just forgot about it. Her students found it last year, and boy, was she embarrassed (plus got a talking-to from the director). It included explicit language about her sex life AND her bulimic episodes. I thought it was a joke when I first saw one of the printouts that students had left around. Tell your son that it is difficult to remember all of your web activity, and that in the future, someone WILL find everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my colleagues (I'm a teacher) had a MySpace page in college, and she apparently stopped using it without making it private, and just forgot about it. Her students found it last year, and boy, was she embarrassed (plus got a talking-to from the director). It included explicit language about her sex life AND her bulimic episodes. I thought it was a joke when I first saw one of the printouts that students had left around. Tell your son that it is difficult to remember all of your web activity, and that in the future, someone WILL find everything.

This is a good lesson for all about leaving an Internet trail behind. Sadly, it was at the cost of the teacher's reputation. Since this was a MySpace account I'm going to guess this took place when the teacher was still a teenager (given the timeline of when it would have been popular for her). However, ALL people need to be careful - both teens and adults. I've seen some stuff adults in my life have posted to social media that is inappropriate.

However, as this lesson was playing out to call out the teacher for her inappropriate online behavior I certainly hope that someone (parents, school administrators, etc) also pointed out that printing out information about a person with the explicit intent to embarrass and humiliate them is a pretty shitty thing to do. It's what asshole bullies do and it's not something to be pushed to the side in order to reprimand the teacher for things she did when she was a teenager.