
1. Teens dominate Filipino Internet user population
- 49% of the country's Internet users today are age 19 years old and below.
- 83% hang-out in social networks
- 63% blog
The popularity of Internet use, listening to music, mobile phone usage, and other online/offline activities shows that teenagers today multi-task and has a 5 minutes attention span.
This also allowed teenagers to have more friends and not limited to their physical neighborhood and school environment. An average online teenager has nearly a hundred friends on instant messaging tools, social networks, and in their mobile phone.
(Source: MTV Circuits of Cool 2008 and MTV Music Matters 2008)
2. Social networks as hang-out
In addition to the usual face-to-face mingling with friends, teenagers appreciated what the world of social networks has to offer and have flocked sites like Friendster that provides facilities such as photo sharing, home page customization, information exhange, testimonials, blogging, application sharing, and profile view monitor.
Being online today allows teenagers to:
- Meet new people.
- Build an identity.
- Collaborate with others.
- Learn.
- Earn.
- Discover groups that caters to a variety of interest.
3. Teenagers can make a name for themselves online.
Some notable teenagers online that I know of, making a name for themselves and even influence the communities they are a part of, include:
- Charice Pempengco
Aspiring artist who reached international acclaim by joining competitions and sharing her talent via YouTube. - Carl Ocab
Uses the Internet to teach people how to make money online in collaboration with his father. - Kevin Ray Chua
Users the Internet to share his political perspective and take a stand for it. He played an important role in the creation of Cebu Bloggers Society. - Kelvin Servigon
Shares his talent/skill through his blog.
4. Setbacks on being online
The power that one feels for being online, where you can do almost anything you want, also has its own consequence if not managed well. This includes:
- Meeting people who can be a bad influence. Or you becoming a bad influence to others.
- Attracting or giving too much attention on developments happening in your online community to the point of being abused.
- Reckless uploading of photos and videos which may inflict harm or humiliation to yourself or to others.
- Rants expressed through blog posts, forums, status messages, among others that can be misinterpreted and maybe used against you later on.
- Nicknames whose meaning may be misinterpreted and create a perception about the person.
- Posting of contact information online that may result to unwanted phone calls, text messages, e-mails, and are sometimes used by others to create fake profiles of you.
5. Rules of engagement
I think teenagers going online should make it clear to themselves basic rules of engagement and constantly checks it before things can go out of hand. Such as:
- Opinion and feedback
Although each one of us are entitled to our own opinion, readers can also post to express what they think. If you can dish it out, you have to be able to take in the response you'll get - positive or negative.
- Think before you post.
Teenagers should think if what they are about to post online is something that they won't mind saying to the person or strangers face-to-face. If it can result trouble, will it be worth your time? Can you take accountability, ownership, and responsibility for what you are about to say online?
- Can you admit your mistakes?
Whenever we post an opinion online, one possibility is our actions will be analyzed and mistakes (out-of-line) being called upon. If and when that happens, will you be cool enough to admit your mistake?
- Be constructive and respectful.
There is definitely nothing wrong in expressing our opinion about those around us. However, if it is something that prefer to post online rather than discuss privately, it is encourage that you communicate your concerns in a manner that is constructive and respectful. Make sure as well that you have done your due diligence rather than appear as reckless.
- You have the right not to be harassed.
Therefore you can take action against those who does such to you and this can be explored in legal means (among others). Do not hesitate to ask for help, especially from cyber-savvy elders, before things blow out of proportion.
- Expectations from friends
Just because they are your friends, you can't assume that they will pick up the battles you are in and otherwise. True friendship should prompt us to care more about our relationships rather than engage in activities that will endanger it. Friendship that grows and mature are those that foster mutual respect, tolerance, and understanding.
Parents and educators need to be more technology savvy now than ever before in order to be capable in supporting teenagers today. You are encouraged to:
- Learn and be tech-savvy
Familiarize yourself with social networks and other sites frequently visited by teenagers today. Read up on the terms of service especially on "abuse" related policies. Connect with online groups and individuals who can provide advise and help later on.
- Respect individuality and privacy
We will see a lot of content being posted online and it is best to stay on the background rather than be intrusive.