Is Twitter potentially unsafe for teen girls?

Platinum Member Joined: Jul 28 2006 Posts: 7181

Would you be OK with your teen daughter going on Twitter (Im not familiar with it at all)?

Can she share private info with others and others with her?

Is there a way to limit its' use and make it safe?

Platinum Member Joined: Jul 28 2006 Posts: 7181

Can someone please explain what is unsafe about Twitter, I have no idea what it is.

It's (un)safe if you want/make it to be. Like internet. Like everything.
_________________

"You will have many many children and make successful shidduchim beh", rebbetzin Esther Jungreis
"It's all cultural, disagree respectfully", me

Silver Member Joined: Aug 17 2008 Posts: 938

Sorta like Facebook, you can decline people to follow you. Most people follow their friends or celebrities, musicians, news organizations, etc.
_________________
Change your thoughts and change your world ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Platinum Member Joined: Jul 28 2006 Posts: 7181

So if I trust her to be on the internet (because when she is, I'm around), it's no more unsafe than that?

Can you give me a worst case scenario of what can happen on Twitter?

Is there a way I can know who she's communicating with?

Posted: Fri, Jul 17 2009, 10:46 am Post subject:

One of my girls asked if she could start a Twitter account. I told her no, she already had Facebook and didn't need the other.

IMO I don't think it's necessary. I'm not TOO concerned about the safety issue.
_________________

Twiiter is a strange concept. You can only type a limited amount of text per entry and the object is to keep your "followers" aware of EVERYTHING you do during your day. So a typical account may look like this:
For breakfast I had a coffee and some cheese on a bagel.

I am at work now only four hours till lunch

Today I may get a haircut after work

I didn't get to the gym yet

It's actually very boring I checked it out and could not believe how boring twitter is. I imiagine if you follow a celebrity it is equally boring. Do I really care what they are doing every moment of the day?

Also, Twitter is not monitored as closely as facebook there have beeen some breaches of privacy.
I told my kids what I thought about twitter and now nobody is interested.
_________________
"WORRYING is like sitting in a rocking chair... It gives you something to do but does not get you ANYWHERE!"

Isn't twitter sent as a text message to people's personal cell phones? I would be weary of it if only for this reason. You lose control over your kids interactions with other people online.

Platinum Member Joined: Jun 30 2009 Posts: 8228

What breach in privacy can there be when someone is sending YOU the message about THEM? Please explain.

Moderator Joined: Mar 29 2005 Posts: 18276

I voted no because I read "would you be comfortable with your daughter going on" -- take away 1 vote from no, and move it to yes when looking at the results; I don't believe it's safe.
Much of the social networking sites is giving the impression we're all one big happy family, all friends, we can share whatever we want, and a teenager can easily get lost in this and post information that makes it too easy to track her down.
_________________
http://a-natural-birth.com
Let me know privately what you would like to see on this; I'm still working on it Smile

Complimentary ad for being a mod

Platinum Member Joined: Jun 30 2009 Posts: 8228

Moderator Joined: Mar 29 2005 Posts: 18276

I'm sure it's possible to follow without sharing, but I think it's too easy to get sucked into sharing back. And once one has the account, you don't have control what goes on after.
Not to mention this whole culture of everyone knowing everyone else's business is not the way Yidden are supposed to behave.

Executive Member Joined: Nov 10 2008 Posts: 335

It's definitely safer than facebook.

Diamond Member Joined: Oct 25 2007 Posts: 4833

Beginner Joined: Aug 03 2010 Posts: 10

Twitter (unlike FaceBook) is not dangerous
I operate a twitter account check it out [url removed]
I post interesting Jewish and Tech News, if you have a twitter account I would be delighted is you can follow me Smile

--
Check out [url removed]

Platinum Member Joined: May 15 2008 Posts: 5024

duplicate post

Platinum Member Joined: May 15 2008 Posts: 5024

I would be way more concerned about FB than Twitter.
But I don't agree with the idea of these social networking sites in the first place (especially for teens) so...

Silver Member Joined: Nov 06 2009 Posts: 596

If she does go on Twitter, you can follow what she writes there without being a member yourself, like a blog, with RSS feeds. The dangerous thing could be if she puts too much information out about herself, not realising it's public.