According to a general statement, most teens fret and fear when they think of ‘friending’ their parents on social media such as Facebook. However, this general opinion is countered by the outcome of a recent study.
The study involved a survey of nearly 2,500 teens. The result shows that both the teenagers and the parents had profile pages or accounts in Facebook – 65 percent was already ‘friending’ online. Among the teens surveyed, more than 15 percent were forced to become friends with their parents as a condition to have their own Facebook accounts; however, the number of teens that voluntarily became friends with their parents on Facebook is quite impressive.
Among the teens that are not ‘friending’ their parents on Facebook (approximately 36%), more than a-third admitted that they paid deaf ear to their parents’ friendship request on Facebook.
However, the leader of the survey observed that parents friending request rejection by some teens doesn’t actually point to an absence of parental involvement. In the actual fact, the teens that ignored their parents’ friending request (over 81 percent of them) on Facebook admitted wholeheartedly that their parents are 100% involved in their upbringing.
The survey carried out by Kaplan group before now showed that friendship differs when it comes to ‘friending’ parents. Among those teens that accepted their parents’ friending request, about 15 percent have somewhat placed access control on their accounts, so that their parents would not have full access to their accounts. “We are expecting a rise in this number – especially with the updated Facebook features that enable friendship and friends’ activities restrictions”, says Kristen (the Prep executive director of Kaplan Survey).
Kristen advises parents not to read much meaning to the fact that their teens ignore their friendship request – “It is not necessarily an indicator that those teens are playing some foul games. They probably just want to stay independent in this aspect of their lives”.
Sometimes, it could even be a mutual agreement between parents and teens, that their Facebook interactions and activities be kept private. Now, what’s your own experience when you requested for your teen child’s ‘friending’ on Facebook? I would like to share your experience with you.
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