www.formspring.me

Hey REALife Parents.
Every once in a while there comes a trend among teenagers that makes me concerned. I am consistently seeing more of our students involved in this social media website "formspring.me". This site probably has it's positive features to it, and from what I've seen thus far it is used by our students as one of the many ways they represent themselves online. This site is a lot different than others like Facebook. On Facebook you know who is commenting on your wall or sending you messages. On formspring.me people submit anonymous questions to each other. Many of the questions are harmless, sometimes the questions are pretty stupid, and some of the questions I've seen are vulgar and inappropriate. The fact that these inappropriate questions are being asked to our students is wrong by itself, but combine that with the fact that our students have no idea who is sending the messages and this site becomes downright scary.

I would definitely advise for you as parents to ask your son or daughter about this trend. If they have a site, check it out and see the questions they are being asked (anonymously remember!) and the responses they are giving. I think this will be a big surprise to you.