Comments on: What Every Parent Should Know About Formspring: The New Cyberscourge for Teens

By: Lucy

Lucy — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:52:20 +0000

Do you honestly think telling a tween or teen that they are straight up BANNED from using a website is going to work or help or…? How about teaching your child to respect themselves and not to indulge in cyber bullying on either side of the issue? How about talking to them about self esteem and online issues? Banning a teenager from doing anything is just going to get YOU banned from their life. They’re going to do it anyway, so why not teach them to ignore/delete rude questions? I must be the only parent who remembers being a teenager.

By: Katelyn

Katelyn — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:54:21 +0000

The thing is. Formspring isn’t all that bad. For starters you can choose to simply delete the post. You don’t have to spend time answering it or posting it. Just delete the sucker and be done with it. Another thing is, my formspring is used completely to help people who need that encouragement. I have never received a bad comment ever. All I have gotten were questions on how I am doing with my writing, and people asking for advice. It’s a great ministry opportunity to share a Christ Like opinion about dating and drama and boys and worldly subjects. And that’s all it was used for. People have messaged me and told me how much my simple answer has helped them and for that I am thankful to formspring for helping me make someone else smile.

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 22:41:12 +0000

There must be a way for parents to collectively get that site shut down; especially in the wake of the recent suicides. Or, at the least, some rules & monitoring established. Perhaps take away their choice to say things without revealing their identity?

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:23:09 +0000

@Angela LaRoche
I agree that the opinions of teenagers should not be discarded or discouraged. I disagree, though, that parents should monitor their children’s social networking sites. Unless the pages are devoid of privacy settings, they were not meant for their parents’ eyes.
Any amount of surveillance is not sufficient to end all secrets between child and parent. Keeping secrets from your parents is a part of growing up.
Still, formspring is a useless website and while I’m not hard set against it, I do think it’s a waste of time. At my high school it’s already obsolete simply because it’s less effective and entertaining than sites like facebook.
With regards to parents having a more equipped skill set, this is definitely true in most cases, but in social networking, my parents, for example, remain blissfully oblivious, as it were. So when it comes to something like driving, if your teen is acting like they know more about it than you do, it’s fair to say that that’s their underdeveloped pre-frontal cortex talking; if your kid thinks they know more about the internet than you do, however, that could be valid, simply because this generation has grown up immersed in the online world. Basically, I think that formspring can be benign or malicious depending on susceptibility of the user, and that parents should not immediately put their foot down if they find out that their kid has one. And one last thing, in the case of sexual remarks posted on formspring, being teenagers with raging hormones these are not seen as crude necessarily. Being parents, these kinds of comments about your children are immediately seen as horrid and profane, naturally. Both sides are biased.

By: Angela LaRoche

Angela LaRoche — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:07:14 +0000

To those of you that are under 18 leaving comments about parents being too controlling and overreacting:
While I think it’s great you all have an opinion and share it with others – seriously, some kids – some ADULTS do not. They keep it in and never voice their opinion – anyway, while I think it’s great, I want to make a point none of you are going to like. There is a reason you have parents. There is a reason we are responsible for you until you mature -or are legally of age, not always the same thing in my opinion . We make decisions for and about you until you can handle doing it yourselves. Until you are an actual adult, you really do not have the skill set, intellect or maturity to make decisions about your own safety. Your brains are not developed completely the minute you decide to join the social networking world. There are many skills and experiences you do not have yet. This is where we -as your parents – come in. Not only should you not be making the decision to join this site – or one like it – without your parents permission and regular supervision, but the parents that do not care to get involved are ignorant and negligent.
Whether you think we are overreacting or being too controlling- it doesn’t really matter. We make the decisions because we are equipped to do so. If you were meant to or were capable of raising yourselves you would have been hatched from an egg
o.O

By: momwhocares

momwhocares — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:02:10 +0000

The only good thing about Formspring is that it keeps me informed of the goings on in my kid’s world and it is SCARY! The site should be shut down just the same.

By: The New Odd Girl Out: Why Social Media Makes Girls So Insecure | CRBiDS.COM

The New Odd Girl Out: Why Social Media Makes Girls So Insecure | CRBiDS.COM — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:30:08 +0000

[...] publicly posted photographs of an outing or party you did not attend, or a personal web page like Formspring, can send a girl into paroxysms of anxiety and [...]

By: yadadameann

yadadameann — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:34:34 +0000

formspring isnt bad you guys are just to sensitive. big babies. if anyone says something mean on formspring its cause theyre jealous, nobody goes around bashing people that as bashable. jeez adults.

By: Kristin Kae Willard

Kristin Kae Willard — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 02:23:07 +0000

Just found this…forgot I posted on this. LOL!! Have to laugh at twenty something…wow! I posted here regarding monitoring the comments on my daughter’s formspring and reporting threats and such and I am told my child needs monitored?? Reading comprehension issues? I think so but thanks for the childish advice my dear. As I stated, I reported to formspring the things I was seeing–on my daugher’s and on her friends. Then my daughter closed her account! BTW, the reason I knew about it was because I was monitoring her computer use and because she is open about it with me–hopefully you can have the kind of relationship I have with my daughter with your own child one day! Might want to drop the judgmental attitude and learn to think first!

By: Almost16girl

Almost16girl — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 20:04:52 +0000

I had my account since january this year on formspring and yeah,some post aren’t really cool. I even had stuffs saying Im so f*cking ugly and it was sent to like everyone. But I didn’t really mind it for it still depends on the person how to take it. I still have it and go into it once in a while. There are actually nice people out there whom you can meet and I made friends out of there too. It’s not really bad. If you don’t want stupid questions on your inbox then visit your settings and customize it that there’ll be no anonymous questions and formspring users can only ask you plus you can protect your account. Formspring isn’t really evil all the way. You dont have to believe everything awful it says. It can be fun too.