Ra-Parents Forcing Kids to Live Undercover

Kids are desperate to flee from their parents’ spying, reports the Wall Street Journal. In a piece about “Tweens’ Secret Lives Online,” the Journal tracks the online lengths kids are going to in order to get away from their stalkerish parents.

Digital anthropologist danah boyd told me last year that teens then were fleeing from Facebook to Twitter to escape the prying eyes of adults. WSJ journo Katherine Rosman says that Instagram is now one of the tools kids use to exchange messages in a semi-public way (where the public doesn’t include nosy adults)... 

My own parents certainly didn’t have that luxury. I would disappear with my bike (Me too. With no freakin' helmet, of course.) on a Saturday and be completely out of touch, my whereabouts unknown for hours at a time.

Let’s hope that digitally enabled overparenting doesn’t completely crush kids’ freedom of exploration. Let tweens actually have a little bit of a secret life. (more)