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Is Facebook getting your kids drunk?

August 31, 2011 by  
Filed under Lingerie Events

(CBS/What’s Trending) – A survey released by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University said that teens that have seen pictures of kids getting drunk, passed out or using drugs on social networking sites are three times likelier to use alcohol and four times likelier to use marijuana. What’s Trending wonders could the social network be leading our teens to illegal activities?

Eighty percent of parents, however, don’t think that seeing illicit behavior on social networks makes kids more likely to do illegal activities or might not even know about.

Even though Facebook’s rule state that those under 13 can’t sign up, poker pro Annie Duke said it’s easy for preteens to sign up. Her own daughter was set up with an account by an older cousin, and despite Duke’s attempts to get her taken off the network, she still gets notifications from Facebook even with a disabled account. Her two older children, who are over 13, are allowed to have accounts, but they must be friends with their mother so she can monitor their activities.  Duke added, “I feel like there’s parental issues though, why is a parent allowing their 10 year-old on Facebook?” 

Writer Joel Stein, however, had the opposite experience. After creating a profile for his fetus son, he was surprised to have the account taken down despite no evidence of illegal activities. (We assume he was kidding, but with Joel you never know)

When discussing the images of drunkenness and drugs, Stein said, “This is the last of my concerns about what kids are seeing on the internet.”

Duke pointed out that in the end it’s all up to the parents to keep track of their children’s behavior. “(Some people say) you shouldn’t have any online shopping…because a kid might start using the parent’s credit card,” she explained. “No, it’s the parents responsibility to make sure your kid’s not stealing your credit card.”

Do you think social media is doing well in the category of social responsibility?

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