It's hard to believe that anyone could post intimate thoughts to a blog and expect it to be private, or selectively private. But that's apparently a big phenomenon these days. About 20 percent of youngsters between 12 and 17 have weblogs, reports Kevin Delaney in The Wall Street Journal. Parents read teen blogs and discover things the teen was trying to hide from the parents. And teens read parents' blogs, wondering how parents are characterizing certain events in their lives:
"The blogosphere is opening up some family communication, helping parents glean subtle, constructive information that helps their parenting. Blog postings are particularly enlightening since many teens have a hard time discussing issues with their parents even when they aren't trying to hide them.
"But in other families, the familiar battles of the living room are spilling into cyberspace.
"My Mom read my blog!!!" one 14-year-old wrote in July on her blog on Xanga. "My life is so over." Upon discovering a parent reads her blog, another girl using Google Inc.'s Blogger service wrote, "I think I'm going to be sick."
"My dad is a retard who ruins everything!!!!" wrote Michelle Davis recently after she found out her father read her blog. Davis, 18, says she thought her parents had no idea that her blog existed. "Once I wrote an entire post about porn," says Davis. "That's something I would never, ever say in front of my parents."
Do you, as a teen, write things you'd rather your parents not know about? Do you care if your parents read it? Perhaps you wish your parents would care enough to read your blog.
Do you, as a parent, have a blog? Do you care if your child reads it? A blog might actually be a good way for parents and teens to clear the air with each other.
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