If your tweens are on Instagram ....

[NikitaZee]

Make sure you periodically check who's following them! My 11 year old son accepted 5 or 6 different new followers whom he didn't know, just to have more followers. When I looked at them they were all women - I clicked on their fan page links and it was all porn . Apparently he and his friends try and see who can get the most followers so they'll accept people they don't know. No more of that if I can help it!

 

[kimblebee]

My daughter has an account but she is only allowed to have followers that she knows. Her pics are private so only her friends can see them. I trust her enough to not follow inappropriate things. She also knows I can and do look in her account at any time. Same with Facebook and any app on her phone.

 

[NikitaZee]

My daughter has an account but she is only allowed to have followers that she knows. Her pics are private so only her friends can see them. I trust her enough to not follow inappropriate things. She also knows I can and do look in her account at any time. Same with Facebook and any app on her phone.

Yeah my son now knows he's not to have followers he doesn't know either. His profile is private too, but I guess usernames are public.

 

[emer95]

Make sure you periodically check who's following them! My 11 year old son accepted 5 or 6 different new followers whom he didn't know, just to have more followers. When I looked at them they were all women - I clicked on their fan page links and it was all porn . Apparently he and his friends try and see who can get the most followers so they'll accept people they don't know. No more of that if I can help it!

How do you check up on them? Do you just look on their device, or do you make your own account to follow them? My girls have iPod touches, but I only have a nano, and that's something you need an app for, right?

I know my girls are not perfect angels, and Mama needs to do some surprise visits to their accounts!

 

[NikitaZee]

How do you check up on them? Do you just look on their device, or do you make your own account to follow them? My girls have iPod touches, but I only have a nano, and that's something you need an app for, right?

I know my girls are not perfect angels, and Mama needs to do some surprise visits to their accounts!

I did both. I already had an Instagram account but I didn't use it too much. So, now I follow his account. And I've been having him periodically (lately daily) give me his ipod and I check comments, posts, followers, etc. There's a little notification or 'news' button, looks like a conversation bubble with a little heart inside it, on the bottom of the app. That's where all the new stuff is. The other day his friend posted a joke picture - of a man floating in the air from huffing on a giant helium tank . So that was another conversation we had, just to make sure common sense hasn't flown the coop.

 

[famousmockingbird]

I let my 11 year old get an account with the understanding that I'd sit down with him about once a week and approve (or decline) and requests. He has no problem with it. I do have an account and look at what is said on his photos, but I don't feel like I'm spying on him, because he does the same to me (ha!)

 

[Sgt Mickey]

WOW. Something else I guess I didn't realize.

 

[jeepgirl30]

My DD is very good about not accepting people she doesn know. She refuses to answer her phone if it isn't someone in her contact list! However, both she and DS10 have instagrams. We had to explain TaylorSwift12 is most likely NOT Taylor Swift and could even be a disgusting 32 year old man. Both were a bit shocked but once I went on DS's account and pulled up pics of one of his followers (some sport star's name) and he could see it clearly was NOT the star he thought he sort of got it.

My DD loaded instagram on my phone so i could track her. She asks me to go on and check just to be sure it is all safe. She is very concerned about creepers! DS on the other hand isn't so cautious. They follow each other though so i can check his too.

 

[Neelloc]

My 10 year old has an instragram account and I told her she cannot accept followers on her own, I have to approve them. She is also set to private.I look through their pictures to see what they post before I approve them. I also scroll through her account and check what she and her followers are posting. I told her it's a privelege that she can lose so she needs to follow my rules.

 

[suzcruz]

I have a question about the Snapchat feaure on Instagram. You can have conversations with people but then they disappear. Is there any way to recover these messages?

 

[mnrose]

This got me thinking...why hasn't my DD asked about instagram. When I went to the site, I learned the answer. The minimum age for use (like facebook) is 13. She's not yet 13 and she knows better than to even ask. If you have to lie to get the account, you can't have it. Period.

 

[pixiewings71]

I didn't even know you could put porn on Instagram! yikes! I follow my DD and we have rules about who she can add or follow but I also do check her page periodically.