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Facebook: Watching the Watchers

Decent Essays

Patrick White’s thesis in “Facebook: Watching the Watchers” states that Facebook has bridged a gap in family communications, that it has improved the levels of communication within the family. Family members used to have a wall that blocked their lives from each other. Now, with Facebook, Parents have windows into the lives of their children. These windows go both ways, and now children can peek into the lives of their parents.
In White’s article, he uses the story of Shelley van der Spank, a mother who signs up for Facebook only to discover that while she can spy on her daughter, her daughter also has the ability to keep tabs on her, to explain how Facebook has become a tool that “bridges a chasm once rarely crossed between student life and family life” and he goes on to say “Family dynamics may never be the same” (p.521).
I agree with White’s statement on family dynamics changing due to Facebook, but not for the better. Without the little distance that is created between student and family life, a child runs the risk of not fully developing proper communication skills, which would impact their future family. The child of the house, while still communicating with family, uses Facebook as a medium, still putting a up digital avatar for their family to interact.
Parents and teens need a barrier between them. Teens should still see their parents as all knowing authority figures until they are old enough to move out. While the parent is setting rules in the house, if their

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