Winter Break, Spring Break: Don’t Tweet It and Talk to Your Teens About Social Media and Your Plans

Keep your plans to yourself! Remind your children.

Whether it is college students planning their spring break or families taking their winter breaks.  Some take their ski vacations and others will enjoy a week at Disney.  With today’s economy, some may be visiting family that are out of state (which may be more fun and definitely can be more rewarding – sometimes).  Whatever your vacation plans are one rule of thumb is for all of them, don’t share it with your social network!!!!  Sure, many of us know that – we have all heard the horror stories on the news, but how many of us say – “that would never happen to us?”

Don’t have your head in the sand – it can happen to you.  Adults probably understand this  – however do your teenagers and especially your kids that are on social networking sites?  Especially Twitter which is in real time – and goes out in a speed of lightening – and worse than that, is very hard to take back!

Vacation is a precious time to the average person. If you want your vacation to be a relaxing time, you may want to stay away from Twitter.

Here are some reasons not to share your vacation experience with your Twitter followers.

1. You don’t want strangers finding you. It’s easy to forget that those harmless Twitter updates can include GPS data, pinpointing where you are at at the moment you post an update to Twitter. That GPS location is available for everyone you know, and everyone else to see exactly where you are. With your exact location available, you are now a vulnerable target in a foreign location to any con artist or petty thief.
2. You don’t want “friends” meeting up with you. You’ve made some friends on twitter but having never met them in person you may not want them to all of a sudden show up on your one time to relax. Keep it private, so you can protect you personal time.
3. Making your friends jealous. Making your friends jealous won’t make your vacation better. You get to go to Hawaii for 7 days in January? Enjoy yourself but don’t make everyone else envious. Just come back to the office with a nice tan and that will get the conversation flowing.
4. Your empty home becomes a target. When you post a Twitter update, your exact GPS location can be included with it. This allows people to know exactly where you are at the moment of your tweeting. It is not a difficult stretch to find from past tweets, where you call home, and if you are tweeting while on vacation, you are informing criminal minds that your home is abandoned and available to be burglarized.
5. You’re missing the sights. If you are tweeting about how cool Mount Rushmore is you are going to miss out on how cool it really is! Save the updates for when your back home reviewing all the pictures you took.
6. Tweet distraction is not good for the family. Most vacations are about getting the much needed time with family. Don’t waste yours or your family’s time by keeping up with the social times. Give your family the quality time and conversation you have all been missing out on.
7. Vacation is about getting away. This is your chance to take a break from all your tweeps. Don’t worry, they will still be there when you get back. They will survive without you. You’ll come back much more refreshed and full of ‘tweetness’.
8. Being unplugged. These days a lot of people’s jobs and lives revolve around technology. Vacation is the time to unplug and slow down. Relax. Enjoy the thought of not having to think of something witty to say.
9. Motives. Why do you want to tweet about your vacation, anyway? Is it going to benefit your 500 followers? Are you just trying to make yourself the envy of all tweeps? Or has tweeting just become a habit? Vacation time can give you a time to reflect on why you do what you do.
10. Roaming. If you are tweeting from your phone on vacation, you may be in a roaming area. Phone use in a roaming area often comes with surcharges, which can make sending a simple text message very expensive. Do yourself a favor and save the extra change to pay for the next vacation.

Going on a vacation is a great time to relax and spend quality time with your family. Take advantage of this coveted time and keep it a secret from your tweeps. Have a relaxing, unplugged vacation!

Source: Internet Providers.net

Join me on Facebook  and follow me on Twitter for more information and educational articles on parenting today’s teenagers.