Parenting Teens: Teenagers & Privacy

Let’s talk about the way teens are communicating these days. When they send each other electronic messages these can never really be erased. They are stored forever even if they are deleted. When I was in high school and sent notes to my friends in class we quickly ripped up these notes. There were memories of these messages but not on technology. When teens communicate on technology they feel anonymous and we know that when they feel anonymous they share information that they ordinarily wouldn’t share. They share both personal stories and photos.

My main point is that teens are blurring the boundaries between what should remain private and what should be public. Please talk to your teens and remind them that electronic messages can go from one screen to another in a matter of moments. You may want to ask them how they would feel if the message that they are sending was on the cover of the local newspaper?