The Facebook parent phenomenon

Facebook, bless it, has (dare I say it? ) revolutionised the online world for many people. Parents in particular. In addition to worrying about what their offspring get up to when they’re supposed to be at school, en route to and from school, hanging at the mall at weekends or Mxiing it up to the extent that they have sms thumb, parents now also have to manage the Facebook beast.

Incidents of bullying, accounts being hacked and abusive messages sent in innocent teenagers’ names, as well as the more usual online terrors like sexual predators, have sent several of the parents I know scurrying to sign up, so that they can keep an eye on thier kids. One of my male friends (and one of the least computer savvy people I know) has hopped onto the Facebook bandwagon to keep an eye on his teenage daughters. My aunt has signed up to keep an eye on her 20-something year-old’s love life — he lives in London and isn’t necessarily good at keeping mom up to date. She is also watching her younger son, now at varsity, who has a habit of not telling mom about his girlfriends (and how often he changes them).

Of course, parents can do this because they get their kids to add them as friends. If their kids haven’t adjusted their security settings to keep everyone out, they can keep an eye out anonymously too.

Personally I’d prefer to know if one of my parents was monitoring my online movements, but then I’m not a teenager anymore, so why would they want to? Of course, I’m not a parent either.

So I’m curious as to how far this phenomena will go. Because if my aunt, and ‘devoted lunatic father’ friend can get out there and online, then any parent can. Trust me, we are not talking about geeks here. Anyone care to sponsor a survey on parents who’ve been forced to get online and net-savvy for the sake of their kids? And any bets as to how it will change their lives? And their kids’ lives? Speculation welcome.