This latest YouTube trend must be stopped. Mothers of daughters (and sons — because I’m sure an off-shoot or similar video is on its way), please be aware of what your child is posting online.
Read this article here about teens posting videos of themselves and then asking viewers to comment if they are ugly, pretty, fat or thin. You can imagine the majority of the comments are not very nice. It smacks of anonymous bullying to me. It must be stopped. But how?
I have no answers. Just posting this to make other parents aware.
Even if it just opens dialogue between you and your child. At least that’s a start.
Addendum: I just saw this article online about boys and anorexia, which apparently, doctors are seeing more of. This is so depressing. Excuse me while I turn off the computer for awhile.
Theycallmejane's Blog 
OMG. Make it stop! And by “it” I mean the series of tubes known as the internets.
If you care about the opinions of others that much, methinks you might to rethink a few things. At least that’s what my therapist says.
My meme video will be going up soon. Watch for it, but not on a full stomach.
Ah yes, but they are teens. They know not what they do. (So sad.)
Amen to that! Parents NEED to start being more aware of what their kids do online. It’s crazy to me that so many don’t know. Did you hear about the two girls who posted the racist rant video and go kicked out of school? I think it was in Gainesville, FL. The 15 min video was hard to watch and I only made it through about 6 mins. And now the parents are saying that they have no idea why their girls did it and that they didn’t raise them that way. BS! They are YOUR kids! Ugh! Sorry, teacher in me is just mortified by it all.
I am right there with you, Jane and Teacher Girl! The teacher and the parent side of me is completely annoyed with this, too. I can’t believe these parents aren’t monitoring what their children are posting. It is horrible.
That’s where I’m stymied. How do you monitor what your kids are posting? The internet can be so anonymous. Unless your child tags their name on it, how do you know?
That is the hard part. This is going to sound very invasive, but I just went to a teacher seminar on this very topic and they recommended to instruct parents to check the history on their student’s computers. Also, be their Facebook friend and follow them on Twitter. If they post something on Youtube, chances are someone will comment on their FB or Twitter about it. Teens need to understand how to use the internet responsibly, and parents are the closest key to this. It is hard, but it has to happen. My friend even goes as far as checking her son’s smart phone at night.
Oh my goodness. That settles it. My kids are simply not allowed to grow up.
{Hope you are well!}
I saw that article on anorexia in boys as well. I just keep shaking my head, and shaking my head, and shaking my head. How do we reorient ourselves and our culture to stop touting appearance over substance?
It’s really nuts. And scary. And seems to be escalating.
Why on earth??? Where are these parents????
Oh my goodness, asking the question: ‘Am I pretty’? is always, and *has* always, brought out negative responses. Even as a very young child I understood that it smacks of attention seeking. So when did it become wise/OK to shove yourself in the firing line like this? I really do fear for youngsters growing up now. At the tender age of 12/13 *I* was cutting out pictures of ponies, daydreaming about one day owning a palomino!
I was just reading the responses here and thinking to myself that even if we monitor what goes on over the internet from within our own homes, the advent of Smart Phones means that we have little control over what happens elsewhere. Then I read jeandayfriday’s comment and yes – I absolutely *would* be sneaky enough to befriend my children on FB and Twitter and if, for some strange reason, I totally lost my mind and gave my child a Smart Phone then I would be checking all activity. I think you have to.
I recently went down an internet ‘rabbit hole’ on Tumblr and was genuinely shocked at the despair, total lack of self-esteem, negative body images and out-and-out promotion of ‘pro-ana’ and pro-mia’ groups. It left me with the impression that a huge proportion of our youngsters are well and truly mucked up in the head. …And I don’t have the answer. I suspect that there are many, many strands of our society that have to change in order to change the direction of this particular ‘supertanker’.. Depressing.