If you’ve ever seen a teen’s ill-advised social media post and wondered what they were thinking, you’ve got your answer: not a damn thing.
That’s according to a a recent Ask.fm survey that found 80 percent teens post photos, status updates or tweets without thinking about the consequences of their actions. A whopping 88 percent of parents know about their offspring’s social media presence, but 43 percent don’t keep tabs on their children’s online movements. From Business Insider:
“We think that this is proof that educators have successfully beat a message of a digital footprint into the teens,” Teitelbaum told Business Insider on Wednesday. “It’s come to a point where posting a status is just an extension of daily behavior, with no regrets. Parents are also comfortable with that to the point where they don’t need to follow them — this is a real shift, and confirmation that social media is so baked into the fabric of our everyday lives.”
Basically, social media gets the kids and it’s an accepted given in 2015.
Cyberbullying remains a parental concern though not as much as worrying teens are trading study time for profile updates or becoming targets for adult predators. Still, sites like Ask.fm have created anonymous spaces on their platforms to reduce bullying and allow teens to “receive positive affirmation of their opinions without their real-world communities raining down.”
Sounds chill.
Contact the author at Hillary@jezebel.com.
Image via Shutterstock.