Comments on: I’m the Reason your Kid Shouldn’t be on Twitter

By: joel hersh

joel hersh — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:15:20 +0000

to be quite frank, if my kids were 15 or 16, i would encourage them to read your material. it’s honest. as for the words, george carlin said it better than i can. your stuff is about the real world and the assholes one encounters on a daily basis. but what do i know, i took my kids to see the “wall” when they were twelvish—joel

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:46:00 +0000

As a self-admitted internet addict (even it that’s the 1st time that I actually /typed/ those words) I knew that this topic was one that I not only wanted to read when my head wasn’t as distracted as it was when you first posted it, but also when I could actually /think/ about doing this in my own life every now and then.

I’ve been online in one way or another since about this time in ‘95 — that’s a helluva long time. And worse yet, I’ve been stuck in front of a monitor for most of the day since either late ‘91 or ‘92… so long that I don’t even really remember.

I used to shrug this off by saying “such is the life of the programmer,” but you’ve helped remind me that part of why I am trying to switch careers was to be able to “unplug”. Sadly photography has gotten focused (no pun intended) on the retouching more than anything else.

You’ve also made me wonder if somewhere along the way my life would’ve been better (meaning more fulfilling and satisfying) had I learned how to “unplug” every now and then early on. I know that /if/ I ever have kids, I’ll be limiting their computer usage. Now if I could just figure out how to do that myself. :-

By: The Redhead

The Redhead — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:01:26 +0000

And just so my readers know – the purported 13 y.o. posted a comment to this blog saying something like his mommy was upset.

I’ll stand by my policy that no known minors will have their comments posted here. It’s for HIS safety, especially since the kid used his real name and photo, along with a trackable ISP address.

So I’m NOT just a blogger with an opinion – I actually DO care. Go figure. (Oh, and it’s also the reason I BLOCKED that user’s account on Twitter. If it really is a kiddo, he doesn’t need to see anything I tweet.)

By: The Redhead

The Redhead — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:55:07 +0000

@ Teacher from Illinois – since you said on Twitter that my “comments are as ridiculous as they are irrelevant,” I’ll chime-in with yet another irrelevant thought. Keep teachin’ man. It’s folks like you that have to pick up where lackadaisical parents leave off. Especially since there’s an alarmingly large number of parents who see teachers as babysitters, you carry a pretty heavy burden.

And of course – kids are going to get everywhere. You tell them no, it makes them even more curious. The intent of the post is to alert parents as to WHY they might not want their kids on Twitter. Twitter is NOT useful for kids. If you want to teach kids about social media, the importance of brand presence, the ability to reach a diverse network through virtual means – show them LinkedIn. No parental controls needed and it’s about as professional as you can get. But if you want to keep blasting someone like me for having a thought about what parents let their kids get into, sure. Go ahead. I’m sure there’s worse shit that gets chirped about in the Teacher’s Lounge at your school. God forbid, I’m one of those kids who viewed my teachers as mentors, got a full-ride college scholarship and have gone on to a career I love.

Fuckin’ crazy.

By: Twittilate

Twittilate — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:48:31 +0000

Though it’s mostly just suggestive and not porn, my erotica is not suitable for kids or safe for work. Twitter should provide an opportunity for users to flag their own content as adult. Flagged streams could be kept out of the public timeline.

Love Twittilate xxx

By: Mike Roe

Mike Roe — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 05:32:01 +0000

I don’t have kids. And, except for one really weird hour a while back, I don’t want kids. I don’t dislike them. In fact, someday (sooner rather than later, most likely), I hope they’ll come and visit me at the nursing home (bring cigarettes, kid. If you do, I’ll tell you about the time Steve Martin called my copy “amateurish.” Who’s Steve Martin? What’s copy? “Grandpa bought a rubber?” Forget it. Thanks for the smokes. Now, get out of here.).

With that said, my philosophy?

Kill ‘em all, and let Red sort ‘em out. Douchebag marketers, that is.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 04:04:21 +0000

Webkinz and Lego.com are the only things I let my kids on… they hear enough damn shit and hell from their Dad… they don’t need to hear it, or worse (however funny IMO) from a crazy redhead!

Parents allowing their children free reign of the internet is irresponsible at best, and borderline endangerment.

By: Jenn Fields

Jenn Fields — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:00:00 +0000

What? I wasn’t listening.

Glad to be part of your Mayberry. Can I start calling you Aunt Red?

By: Canageek

Canageek — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:48:33 +0000

The existence of things like oh @twittilate and @GoodVibesSF and people like @Tatty @Furrygirl @Violetblue @badbadgirlx @BoardofControl and @EssinEm should be enough to keep your kids off of twitter. I follow some of these, there the type of content I like to see on twitter, but NOT FOR KIDS. I mean, even me, who rarely swears IRL, will, after a friend phones me in tears will let lose a few F***s or in a #tfe (TwitterFictionEvent) will swear in character/in response to the situation!

I think twitter if fine once you hit high school, as honestly? There is little on the net you can’t find in your average high school if you look hard enough. Younger then that? No thank you please.

By: Teacher from Illinois

Teacher from Illinois — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:49:09 +0000

So let me get this straight. We need to protect kids from something useful and fun because of vulgarity (really, really serious vulgarity). Should we tell kids not to go see the latest Pixar movie because a R rated movie about a chainsaw juggling clown is showing in the next theater? Kids will get on Twitter – keeping them away from vulgar tweets isn’t protecting them from anything.

The dangers you present are more of an indication for the need to teach digital literacy. The answer simply is not to just police kids away from the Internet, but to teach them how to use it. My little sister had her full legal name on myspace and her picture and all sorts of other information (name, address, phone number) – I almost had a heart attack. The answer is not to tell her not to use myspace, it’s to teach her how to use it and that is a parent’s job. We aren’t cops, we’re teachers.