What is Your Teen Using Instagram For? (Video)


Not crazy about the way kids post their pictures online?
OR
Maybe you don't mind that your daughter and all of her friends Facebook every shot of themselves
several times a day?

Either way, I've been reading that Instagram (owned by Facebook) is probably your teens 
next favorite social media tool (if it's not already). 

Should you be concerned?

Get the skinny on the newest and most popular photo sharing tool:
Because Instagram cares - they have 'parent tools/tips'.
But don't expect to get access to anything, delete your child's account or find out their password via the Instagram helpdesk, (there are privacy laws you know- Yes, even for 13 year olds, the age they are allowed to sign up for an Instagram account).


Want a little more info? I signed up for my own account before I wrote this (so I would know what I was talking about) and I found it to be quite plain actually... compared to Picasa, iPhoto, etc., it wasn't all that exciting to me. But I was only taking pictures of an Orchid and some dishes that were hanging on the wall...

Black and white but it's real name is 'Inkwell'.
'Lo-fi'
'Kelvin'
This one was '1977' and actually,
I thought they all had the potential to look 70's-ish.


















So, I suppose the bottom line on this Instagram thing is that teens like it because their photos can go viral in a heartbeat since they can share them instantly via: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flicker -A.S.A.P...



WHAT DO MOST TEENS WANT?
TO MAKE AN IMPRESSION, MEET PEOPLE, SEEM POPULAR, 
CONNECT WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD AND HAVE FUN...

Instagram can be a good OR a bad way to achieve these...
See this News Footage 
I looked around and found some teen users who only had posted clothed photos and no sexual content, but they still attracted tons (169 comments) of male and females looking to make a sexual connection. She couldn't have been older than 14.

You decide:

OR 
You Might Not to Want to Allow Instagram
(Read a Dad's perspective)


And me? I like it because it makes cool blog pictures.

Want Instagram for yourself?.. click here.

One more thing:
Why Someone's Instagram Should Be Private

Okay, maybe two things:
Anyone with an Instagram account can contact your teen if they publicly post their photos...
and especially if someone is looking for photos 'tagged' with #teen.
That also means someone can tell your daughter 'you have pretty eyes' or that 'she's hot' or your daughter can see photos you might not want her to.
They can be stalked by pedophiles, solicited by scam artists and more.

The keys?
 Education and  Monitoring

Popular posts from this blog

Back to School Anxiety: Bullying

Image
Download “School Boy Being Stressed” by David Castillo Dominici via freedigitalphotos.net I recently wrote about how to help your child if they’re struggling with going back to school because they were bullied. My biggest most important tip was to listen, because I honestly could not write a ‘How-to-make-them-not-afraid’ column. Frankly I thought that was absurd. Fear is sometimes real. Anxiety is sometimes truly there, and for a good reason. Our job as parents isn’t to try to make it go away, it’s to try to find out the true source of those worrisome feelings. If you’d like to read more, click here. And if you’re child is struggling to find excitement about the new school year, don’t deny it, just accept it and move forward gently. Here’s some more on bullying: Family Matters Links: A Touching Story/Song Bullying: A thing of the past A Peace Poem By My Teenage Daughter A Deeper Insight into My Thoughts on People Who Bring Harm to Others Other Links: Stop Bul
Read more

Would You Rather?

Image
My kids like to play a game called ‘Would You Rather?’. I’ve always liked getting in on the fun because they usually freak out when it’s my turn to ask, ‘Would you rather?’. I will ask, ‘Would you rather…have to go to school for 365 days a year, or go without television forever?’  Or when I say, ‘Would you rather eat broccoli at every meal, or spinach?’. It’s fun to watch them squirm. Now here is one for parent’s. School shopping is finally coming to a halt (thank goodness) and there are a few items on the market that I want you to see (if you haven’t already gasped at them yourself). They are: JCPenney’s (recently controversial) Shirt for Girls: JCPenney And the 'Eye Candy' (yes, it says Eye Candy on it-actually ALL over it) notebook that I hear no one talking about and which is selling at Walmart: So, hear it goes…. Mom, Dad, Grandma, Antie….etc….. 'Would you rather ' have your teen (or younger) daughter wear the ‘too pretty for math’ shirt?        O
Read more

Good Customer Service At Home

Image
Over the years, my careers have mainly been customer service based. I started in a family business and then moved on up through the rungs from waitress, to hostess, to sales associate, manager and eventually the GM of a hotel. In all my years, my training taught me that you should always do your best to take your customer all the way to what they need, make them happy, and never leave them until they are done with you. I pride myself on my customer service abilities. Though the other day, I think I failed at customer service in my own home! I was getting ready to cut my daughter's hair and because of how long it had gotten (she's been growing it out for a year!) I felt this time it would be best  if instead of me spritzing it with water, she could wash and condition it real quick. She was fully clothed so I just suggested she run into the bathroom and wash her hair in the tub. She’s fourteen. I suppose I just assumed that she knew how to kneel over the tub and do it.
Read more