Parents Worried Girls Becoming Addicted to Facebook
To add to the worry, the BBC reports that parents of teenage girls in the U.K. now cite addiction to online social networking as their number one concern. As Jill Berry, the president of the Girls' School Association, puts it, girls are now apparently "permanently connected" to sites like Facebook and Bebo, and parents are worried. At the association's annual conference, Berry detailed parents' concerns over "what to do about their daughters being on the receiving end of 'We hate x' sites or 'honesty boxes' where comments about each other can be posted anonymously."
In a conversation with the BBC, a Facebook spokeswoman countered, "It's equally convenient to characterize TV and video game usage as time-consuming distractions. Yet there's academic research touting the benefits of these activities and services like Facebook." She added that, ultimately, children and parents -- not Facebook -- are responsible for the amount of time and energy expended on the site.
Facebook and its kin are uniquely suited for high school gossip and backstabbing, since social networking is all about image, and in high school, image is everything. Yet, instead of grabbing pitchforks and storming the Facebook gate, it seems as if these parents have accepted the fact that social networking exists and is becoming more ubiquitous. They just want to know how to handle crying jags set off by unfriending. And a parent trying to understand is always good. [From: BBC]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
amoozed said 9:49AM on 11-18-2009
Addictive behavior associated with electronic stimulation to the brain is at pandemic proportions. Judging from the behavior of electronically stimulated persons, they will defer food, activity, or sex for electronic stimulation.
This cannot be confused with a healthy scenario. WE are Borg! You will be assimilated, resistance is futile!
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What?! said 12:13PM on 11-18-2009
We are all new to Technology age and that every age come with new rules & regulations, for example, we need to balance our time with technological uses and outside for sports, work, etc. Also, we shouldn't be texting anyone while driving. People died. The same with the use of cellphone in classrooms and driving the car. Like I said, this technology age have to be required of our time and attention to other needs.
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