Sexting Among Teens on the Rise, Says Study

By MIKAELA CONLEY | Good Morning America

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  Sexting Among Teens on the Rise, Says Study (ABC News)

Brian Kearney said that as a gay teenager, he missed out on the typical teenage love connections that most of his peers experienced in high school. He didn't have gay interactions, but apps and technologies allowed him to connect with gay men he otherwise wouldn't meet.

He was 17 when he sent his first sext, he said.

Why Parents Lie to Let Kids Join Facebook

By PEGGY ORENSTEIN

It’s been clear for a while that parents lie about their children’s ages so they can join Facebook. A survey by Consumer Reports published in June found that there were 7.5 million users under age 13 (the site’s threshold for membership); more than 5 million were under 10. Over the year leading up to the report, a million children said they were harassed or threatened on the site.

But cyberbullying is not why kids are supposed to stay away. The legal reason for the age limit is to protect children’s privacy. Facebook collects personal data from its users — lots of it. The site’s whole purpose is to erode the concept of privacy, to make public everything about you, not only for the benefit of your 622 BFFs, but to customize your advertising or use your endorsement of a product (through the “like” button) to sell it to a friend.

Should Children Be Allowed on Facebook?

By KARIN DELL'ANTONIA

Facebook really is after your kids.

Right now, the site doesn’t officially allow children under 13 to sign up. But in this Sunday’s Times Magazine, Emily Bazelon reports that Facebook isn’t happy about it. It has tripled its spending on lobbying and formed a political action committee in anticipation of “a fight we take on at some point” — in the words of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder — over the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Act.

Summed up, Facebook’s argument is that millions of children (7.5 million 12 and under, according to the May issue of Consumer Reports) are already on Facebook. Letting them sign up legally (under their real ages, which now they have to hide) would allow Facebook to develop stricter privacy controls for that age group. But, Ms. Bazelon writes, stricter privacy controls aren’t in Facebook’s economic interest.

11 ways to prevent Facebook stalking

It's not just kids who have to protect themselves from abuse on Facebook and MySpace. These rules are just as crucial for adults. the last thing you want in your life is a stalker. Liesl Muller, a social media consultant, offers the following advice about safe social media use:

It is very important to keep your passwords safe and not to share them with anyone.

Don’t befriend just anyone. A rule of thumb is to only befriend people you know in real life. Use Facebook as an extension of your existing circle of friends.

What you share electronically stays in cyberspace forever, therefore don’t share or post anything you will not feel comfortable with. Ask yourself: will you be comfortable if your headmaster or a potential employer reads it? And potential employers do look at your Facebook page.