Be careful, be very careful

I am sitting at the home of my cousin with her 3 children and husband and I can’t stop thinking about how the world has changed with the introduction of technology; computers, iphones, ipods and internet.

Here we have children aged 10, 12 and 14 – one is watching foxtel in her bedroom, another a movie and the eldest is on her iphone typing madly away on facebook.

Turn the clock back 10 years; the internet was not in every home, foxtel wasn’t either and no-one, least of all me, would have thought that they would be on  social network that is larger than google, telling people what they ate for breakfast. Who would have thought?

What is alarming is that with children and adults there is now a blurred line as to what they have access to. Any child on the internet can now have access to nude photographs of men and women, there are cyber criminals and there are social networks.

The latter, I feel, is the more dangerous. Here children are exposed to advertisements ranging from condoms (children don’t need to know about this until they are a certain age), strippers (definately don’t need to know about this) and meeting their perfect match (now really!!!!).

My facebook page now gets updates on who are the children’s daily lovers!!! How did this happen? Is there no boundaries to what social networks and the internet expose to children. You could say that children shouldn’t be on facebook, but if all of their friends are, isn’t it mean to not allow them. It’s hard enough being a teenager without being different.

All I can say is to all parents out there, be careful, be very careful as to what your children know about things you may have thought were hidden under the blanket.

Those advertising online, luring our young into the doldrums of darkness or 18 lives are marketing their way into the lives of our families.

Join Marketing Eye on Twitter and Facebook today!

P.S. If you like this marketing blog, then please feel free to share it on whatever social network medium you see fit. We love facebook, twitter and linkedin!