Section Three: Getting Past the 'Rents

My parents have come to terms with the fact that my online life cannot be stopped or altered by them. They let me do my thang. I'm not an 11-year-old having to ask mummy's permission to make a Habbo Hotel account. I'm a nearly-19-year-old who has a blog. Boom. Internet generation! But in saying that, there are plenty of parents out there who are extremely wary of cyber bullying, stalkers, and the dangers of having a personal profile on a public domain.

There is an endless supply of websites that discuss the plus sides of Facebook, aswell as giving reasons why parents should be supportive of the use of the site in their homes. This site gives parents a list of things to look out for when their child is using Facebook. Most of the tips are obvious things like 'there is an age limit of 13 years old' and 'don't talk to strangers'. While these are very valid points, they are also fairly obvious. It honestly seems like, according to the creator of this site, the only bad things to be said about Facebook are things that can be avoided by the individual who has an account.


Facebook was described on this site as being a "social networking giant", and what a fitting title that is. Facebook has taken social networking and keeping in contact with people to a whole new level. It's the goodness of Bebo, Hotmail, MySpace, Twitter and Tumblr all rolled into one big, beautiful, blue package. On this same site, the writers discuss how Facebook has took a stand against cyber-bullying, an issue common in this day and technical age. It tells of how a facebook sub-site was filled with abusive comments towards homosexuals. Incidents such as this are what anti-Facebook peeps will try to use against the site and those who are interested in it. However, upon hearing off this horrible cyber-bullyig and discrimination, a Facebook official named Andrew Noyes repsonded by saying:
"We were able to not only remove the comments from the page, but if this activity persists, these individuals will be removed from Facebook entirely."

Facebook deals with situations promptly. On every single post that shows up on your page or in your live feed, there is the drop-down option to 'mark as spam' or remove the object from view. If needed, you can even block a person or change your security settings so their activities don't show up when you log in. If parents wish to further warn their children of these dangers, they can easily do so. But as for the possibility of awful things happenin on this site: very very low. There are so many ways to avoid the negativity on the site that there really is no point in focusing on it!