What’s Your Teens On-line Image?

I recently attended a webinar given by The Girl Scout Research Institute and Pew Internet.  These two organizations teamed up to evaluate teenage use of the internet.

The Girl Scout Research Institute stated “This nationwide survey, which included more than 1,000 girls ages 14 to 17, finds the increased exposure to social media puts teenage girls in a confusing situation where a girl's image is not always what it seems, as nearly 74 percent of girls agree that most girls use social networking sites to make themselves "cooler than they really are." The survey finds that girls downplay several positive characteristics of themselves online, most prominently their intelligence, kindness and efforts to be a positive influence.”

What was most striking to me was the percentage of girls who portrayed their on-line image as sexy and crazy, were more likely the girls with the lowest self-esteem.   Does this mean they practice riskier behavior on-line in an effort to be more popular?  The survey also revealed that the girls in-person behavior came across as smart, fun, funny, kind, a good influence, outgoing, cool, and social/confident.  While their on-line profile was apt to more fun, funny, and social, thus downplaying their positive attributes.

Besides the fact that we need to constantly bolster our children’s positive view of themselves, they also need to understand that they have to handle their on-line activities responsibly.  Every generation has their battles to face with their teens and I believe ours is social media.  It’s a fun and fantastic way for our teens to keep in contact, but as a parent it’s another activity we have to constantly monitor to make sure our children are not putting themselves at risk.  They need to understand the boundaries that go with the responsibility of putting a post on the internet that will stay there virtually forever. 

Since you are reading this post, you are obviously a parent, caregiver or caring adult who is concerned and wants to keep abreast of what our teens are doing.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of parents who do not monitor and who do not know that their teens are putting themselves at risk with inappropriate language, pictures, etc.  If your teen is a friend of one of these children, I challenge you to occasionally bring the subject up about who’s posting what on Facebook and talk about what is appropriate.  They may be risking their reputation among their peers, getting into college or getting the job they want.  You keep hearing the term “It Takes a Village”, but I don’t think enough adults are adhering to this motto.  Don’t be afraid to take a stand, it may not make you popular, but you already went through adolescence.