Facebook has parents in catch 22 situation

HYDERABAD: Facebook is as addictive as anything could ever be.Youngsters spend hours updating status, commenting, playing, sharing videos and photos and finding friends on the social networking site much to the chagrin of their parents who find themselves in a catch 22 situation.On the one hand, they want their kids to be net savvy but on the other, they do not want them to be FB addicts.The irony here is complaining parents themselves have FB accounts of their own.Says Kiranmayee Allam, a working mother, “90 per cent of my family members live in the US which makes Facebook an easy and economical way to stay in touch with them.It is fun to use it once a day but a menace when I find my children neglecting work just to be online.” Kiranmayee’s daughter Anusha, a college student, constantly updates her account through her mobile.Practically, she spends most of her waking hours checking her account.However, Savitri Ganesh, another parent, has better things to say.“My friends and I from school have reconnected on FB.We’ve shared memories from our classroom from 20 years ago thanks to FB.I hope my child will also keep in touch with his close friends.After a long day of study and work, it’s a good stress buster, so I don’t question the time he spends.” Rama Mohan, a private employee, too echoes the same views.“Facebook has become an easy platform to share your views.I tell my daughter to update and share quotes and discuss current affairs.Casual posts like ‘What’s up?’ and so on are a waste of time.I see that my child goes through books and shares the information she reads,” he explains.Monitoring it seems is the key to keep in check a child’s addiction.But all parents do not find time to keep an eye on their children.“I have fixed timings for my son to surf the Net.He chats on FB and browses the Net only in the evening when I am at home.I take care to ensure that he doesn’t get his hands on the computer the rest of the day,” says Janani, an ISRO employee.She has ensured that her son, Manpreet, has no access to the Net on his mobile.Not just parents but teachers and lecturers too are increasingly using FB which makes the social networking site all the more attractive for students.Says Rama Charan, a college student, “With the Telangana bandhs and mass bunking of students, lecturers at college are finding it difficult to finish the syllabus.So they resort to posting notes on their walls.We end up studying on FB too.” This is perfect if the students use FB properly, points out Cinny, a lecturer in mass communication at a private college.The downside of that however is that monitoring the time spent by a child on FB becomes tricky.“With teachers now sharing notes on FB, it’s not an easy job for me to check what my child is spending time on.So all I can do is make it a point that he studies at least two hours a day and the rest of his time is up to him,” confesses Shankar, Ram Charan’s father.