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There was a time that the only that you could stay in touch with your friends was either through the telephone or meeting them in person. If your friends moved away, you would stay in touch with them by sending mails through post. There were even services like Pen Pal that allowed you to get in touch which complete strangers and make new friends. The internet changed all that!
While mails have now become emails that send off messages instantly, social networking sites have taken socializing on the internet to a whole new level! Facebook, Orkut, MySpace and several such sites are the new ‘hang outs’ for teenagers where they can meet up with friends online and have discussion as groups, upload pictures and videos for all their friends to see and comment on, plan up events and much more. However, good parenting always asks for parents to be vigilant about their child’s associations and so it is important that you know just how good (or bad) social networking sites are for your kids.
- A teen can build a good support group of friends online and can discuss issues that would be embarrassing to talk about in person.
- It encourages teens to stay in touch with family and friends without having to spend real time with them.
- Social networking sites have several tools that allow teenagers to express themselves freely that reduces adolescent stress levels.
- Teenagers can actually get addicted to social networking, spending more than three hours every day on networking.
- Restraining teens from spending too much time on such sites after leads to depression and, in turn, retaliation.
