How should I monitor my teen's social networking use?

No, you’re not spying when you monitor your teen’s social networking activity. In this video, psychologist Dr. Jennifer Hartstein explains how you should keep tabs on your teen’s online social life.

Transcript

00:00

You might, in middle school, let them know that there are going to be some safeguards on their computer so you can check their usage, see that they're being responsible in how they use social media.

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00:15

So as a parent, you have a right to know what's going on in your house. It's a very fine line, especially with a teenager because you want to help them build towards independence,

00:24

have a sense of privacy, have a sense of themselves without you spying on them. But that trust needs to be earned.

00:31

So you might, in middle school, let them know that there are going to be some safeguards on their computer so you can check their usage, see

00:38

that they're being responsible in how they use social media. And as they get older, truth is they're going to forget that those controls are on there.

00:45

But you also want to say to them, they're still here and I'm going to reduce them as long as you're trustworthy. If I get the sense that you're not being trustworthy,

00:53

the implementation of controls will go back on and you will be monitoring what they're doing. The key thing as your kids get older

01:00

is to encourage them to talk to you. And the way to do that is to be nonjudgmental, to be supportive, to let them fall down

01:08

and know that you will be there to help them get back up because the only way they're going to learn is to make mistakes. So be as involved as you can.

01:15

Know all the different social media outlets. Know that there's Facebook, but there's Tumblr, there's Reddit, there's Cloud.

01:22

There's all of these different things that are coming up all over the place that kids are being involved in.

01:28

So know what they are so you can check to see what's happening on all of them.