Please do the following: sit down with your child (and they are just children still) and tell them that they are not allowed to be a member of any social networking site. Today!Let them know that you will at some point every week be checking their text messages online! You have the ability to do this through your cell phone provider.
Let them know that you will be installing Parental Control Software so you can tell every place they have visited online, and everything they have instant messaged or written to a friend. Don't install it behind their back, but install it!
It is leadership like this that is misguided and more dangerous than prohibiting the technologies from the students. By banning social media you create a us vs. them scenario that is destined to create a greater rift between students and parents and schools.
Social media is not going away. If schools turn their head to the ubiquity of social media in our students lives not only will we push them away but we will be doing them a disservice as they will not be prepared for a world where connectivity drives all industries.
The only viable approach we can take is to educate our students, faculty and parents on the potential and danger with social technologies. To turn a blind eye to how our students communicate is dangerous but so is to ban all technologies. It is our responsibility to adapt to changes, understand how we can utilize them to best prepare our students while teaching them of the dangers as well.
