How much time do I allow my 15 yr old daughter to spend on My Space?

If I don't say anything she will stay on it all day. She fusses that I don't give her enough

Time. I have been giving her 3-4 hrs a day since school since school is out as long as she

Has done something else construcive. Is that too much time? :confused: TIA

I think that three or four hours a day is too much time to be spending on something that will potentially not be helping a person to make progress in life towards making them a productive member of society.

As a parent, that is my opinion, anyway.

A site like we are on right now can be very addicting. I know that I spend too much time on it. But, I do find this site to be stimulating to my brain, and I certainly learn things here. Many times I just have to log off and get going on the things that I really need to accomplish. I have to ask myself, "Who's in charge here?" "Me, or the fixation to be on this site?" You could ask your child something along those same lines.

I literally never watch T.V. in my home. So, I think that my spending time on the Internet is a "me" time for myself. It is a way of rewarding myself for accomplishing things during the day and providing myself some "down time" that we all need every day.

We all need to relax, but as a parent, I think that three or four hours a day on some place like MySpace by a child is a little much. I could see a max of two hours on it, provided everything else that needs to get done for the day is finished.

Personally I don't allow MySpace for my kids, but that is my own personal choice for my own personal decisions.

As long as you have access to her MySpace even when she is not on the computer I think this is a little excessive, but you do not go into detail if there are other things she could be doing. i.e. I recently spent some time "back home" and my niece lives there, she spends every living second on the computer. However, she does not drive, they live way back in the country, her friends live 45 miles away in the city... Hence, after all work around the house is done there is little else for her to do.

You need to make sure that she does not give out her phone number, etc... It can be a dangerous place if not monitored properly.

To me, that is a pretty long time for a 15 year old. My sister's daughter, who is 16, is not allowed to have a myspace anymore. I did some snooping on the website for my sis and found out a lot of unsafe, inappropriate material on there... so she got booted. Before that I think she was only allowed on the internet for an hour everyday, unless of course she had hmwrk.

I totally agree with you rank, as I stated it can be a very dangerous place for kids. But look at us networking here, LOL.

My story above was regarding my niece who is 16... and this is only during the summer as there literally is nothing for her to do where she is at.

Tia,
I truly empathize with your situation. I myself fought with my teens about a MySpace account for a long time. The problem is... unless you have some monitoring program on your computer... kids can make a MySpace page very easily. They change their names or create new pages often using friends to access their pages to give them messages by phone when you limit computer time. I have found all this out the hard way. LOL Eventually I had to purchase software to monitor my kids. This is really something I hated to do as I believe in kids privacy. What shifted me over the edge was thinking that I have a larger obligation to protect, monitor, guide my children. As a parent... never let you teen guilt you about your limits. This is their main weapon. LOL And parents have an abundance of guilt anyway. Primarily I monitor what my kids are doing, what time of day they are online, and general content. As long as it is typical situations with friends... I don't say anything. The minute there are concerns I let them know and place boundaries/restrictions. Not saying my kids don't scream and complain... but most of the time it is not an issue as they know I monitor them. Don't take a chance. While they are online... consider them in the midst of a huge mall with no real protection. They cannot see the dangers but they are there. Good luck.

We are as bad as the kiddos J_9, lol!

Tia,
Maybe you could help your daughter find something else that interests her...

I have 3 children they each have a myspace page. I get to look at their pages when ever I want to or they are not allowed to have one. I really do not have to limit their time because they are very interested in other things. If I had to limit the time I would say no more that 1 1/2 hours a day , unless they were changing their layouts and that takes a little longer. Also the computer is in a high traffic area which makes it safer. I think my space has its advantages, I can check out some potential friends this way, see who the partyers and trouble makers are. So, I am all for it, as long as my kids keep their personal information off it. :)

I think some parents don't even care to look at their kids on myspace and don't care if they are on there 10 hrs a day so at least you are giving her a limit. I think 3 hours would be a good limit or maybe 2 hours but it is totally up to you. 3 hours may seem like a long time and to us adults it is forever, especially for me because I have a myspace account and I only spend a few minutes a day. Why would you want to spend more than a few minutes at a time emailing and chatting with friends, any longer than that is kind of long for me. Kids and teens are different though and so 3 hours is not a lot to them. I would give her a computer limit of 3 hours a day, not a myspace limit per say but a computer limit. If you are concerned about MySpace than you should probably make her set her profile to private where only her friends can see her profile and pics so that she doesn't meet any strangers or predators. You hear about kids on the news all of the time being abducted from strangers online that they meet and have a relationship with, etc and even though you think you know your daughter very well you never know what can happen. MySpace can cause a lot of pain if not properly supervised! You need to supervise her accounts and make her keep a private profile, over 80% of kids and teens do keep a private profile though and so that would be for the best. I have seen many children that have parents with no rules as to how long they can stay on the computer and so by you setting rules is very good example for what all parents should do.

That's way too much time. I use myspace a lot but not excessively. I understand that people might want to see their friends' profiles but only give her 1 hour a day. She needs to know her priorities. Education always comes first. So what you can do is bargain with her and tell her she would get more time if she get's good grades.

I do several things, computer is always in a public room, not good for home design, but in the dinning room, kitchen, family room, so the screen is visible for all to see for anyone walking by.

And I have been known to check the history of what sites are used and more.

Too much danger there not to supervise a lot.

If they are just on my space, not using great sites like this, 4 hours is far too much,

As someone who spends way too much time on the internet. I would say the time you have been giving her is fine as long as it doesn't stop the rest of her life. Addiction is only a problem when it prevents you from being a functioning member of society. If the time she is spending on the computer bothers you. Find something else for her to do. There is no point limiting her online time if she is just going to be watching TV instead.

I say let her have the myspace but make sure she knows who everyone is because that is not the safest website.. people have not cared or paid attention and eventually hurt so watch her and let her stay on in if she wants. =]

Thanks to all who responded. I did cancel her my space account

Numerous times only to find out like 1Badchoice did in which her children created a new

Account. My daughter also created a new account with out permission. I cancelled

That as well. All of a sudden she wanted to go over friends

House to get on their computer and stay all day, her friends parents were not monitoring

Them. I decided to let her have a new account provided that I knew the password so that

I could monitor her. Also, I have her to read, do chores and recreational activities

Before she can get on my space. I think I will limit her to 1hr 1/2 a day as long as

Everything else is done. She does not watch much TV during the summer. I know this is

Long but, thanks again everyone for all of your input.

Hi I just want to say that I am 14 and I do have a myspace and to tell the truth myspace is not a bad thing if you trust your daughter or son really it is like aim but you get to design your own backround and you get to share your pictures from w/e like a formal dance or just a fun day with your friends and you can set your myspace to private so only the people you want can see your myspace and really myspace is an email but not as slow and boring so I think that myspace is fine as long as your daughter or w/e is still being responsible with it and with everything else like school and other activities. JUST GIVING YOU THE PERSPECTIVE OF A TEEN!

michellexmybell3 Thanks for your input. I do agree that my daughter needs to be responsible and active in other endeavors. I would not mind her spending a little time on my space, just not a lot where this can become addictive. Thanks again for your perspective