Should parents be able to monitor their teens' social media sites (facebook, etc.)?

[highcast318]

Today we had to write an essay over should parent's be allowed to monitor their teens' social media sites or is it an invasion of privacy?
I was just curious of what everyone else thought.

[Delancey]

No as long as the child isn't hiding anything from them. Like bad stuff on the internet

[anonymous]

No, because I'm a teenager and i know what I do on the internet and how I talk to my friends.

[JustWondering]

They should be able to check your stuff until you are 18 years old!

[Annoyingmother357]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooöooooooooooooooooooooooooooo​ooooooooooooooooooooo

[Jenny]

As long as the parents are responsible for their children, parents need to monitor their children's Internet use, which includes social media sites. They just really need to back off once the child is 18, even if he/she still lives at home. Some parents seem to have a problem with that...

[kny390]

Absolutely, if they feel that something is going on. My gf's son went to meet a girl on the internet and left the State with her to go swimming when he was 14. . Fortunately, he returned just fine.

The other concern is people who pretend to be kids, your kids posting nude/semi nude pictures, etc.

We had an open door policy in our house (instead of the computer being in the family room), so a passing glance would let me know things were fine.

[Selar]

I own the air my children breathe until they are 18, they have zero right to privacy. However, I need not look at their stuff- they do not even use it and they have never given reason to not trust them.

[Ana]

Maybe they should be able to monitor but they should not be monitoring. I don't think this is how you build trust between parent and teenager. Parent should not have social media access as a tool to get to know his/her child better and find out what is happening in his life. Parent should find other ways to build trust with their child, on that level that he/she doesn't feel it is ever necessary to access their social med account.
The parent who ask the question " Is it invasion of the privacy?" is actually revealing that there is underlying communication problem between that parent and child.The parent is into quick fixes of the larger problems. It takes minutes to read everything from your child's soc media site, but it takes years to build and maintain Emotional Bank Account. Parent should learn the skills of empathic listening, improve communication with child, make enough deposits into emotional account and empower your child to open. It will be the most powerfull tool in getting the best data about your child, not only what is on his FB account but much much more. Maybe he will ask you to see what he wrote to friend on FB, some photos funny stuff etc without your asking for it without invading your child's privacy. Than you will be happy parent your child is proud of and you will be proud of your child.
Stephen R. Covey book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" is the goldmine.
Read Habit 5 :..principles of empathic communication.

[Sam]

A very important lesson to learn is never put something in writing or take a picture of something you wouldn't want the entire world to see. Websites get hacked, diary's get stolen, photos get into the wrong hands.

Talk to your friends in person about personal stuff, then you have nothing to worry about.

FYI if my kids want privacy they can pay for their own cel phones & internet. If they think parents are tough wait until they get a job that has internet monitored.