DS14 has got a Twitter account

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

My other son who's 16 found it from his Fortnite name. It's mainly gaming related (bloody Fortnite), the odd swear word but I did find one post about how to get Twitch without a credit card. (Oh, and one post from the other day asking if anyone wanted to swap parents )

The credit card one is concerning. He already had other users asking him why he didn't have one and that a 16 year old should have a card. I have had trouble over lockdown with him making out he was doing his school work when in fact he was gaming instead. DH has worked long hours all the way through (out the house), and I was working from home until the last school term of the year when I was back in FT. So he hasnt' had a lot of supervision and he's got into bad habits with gaming it seems.

We have never allowed screens in bedrooms so he's not on it all night or anything like some teens. But he is most of the day. It's crept up since lockdown. And he's generally quite a good boy. Doesn't go out much or get in any trouble. He's going into Year 10 so I know they'll be hearing or using swear words with their mates etc and he never swears in the house so I@m not hugely bothered about the language he's used on it.

I guess I'm just asking if anyone else allows their Yr 10 on twitter? Should I be really firm and report his account or something? And should I be worried about the credit card thing? A friend's son spent all his savings on gaming crap in a v short time a couple of years ago - hundreds and hundreds of pounds of birthday money.

Oh fgs of course. Swearing also normal.

Also what a grass his older brother is!!

Twitters age minimum is 13. However there’s a shit ton on there I wouldn’t want my kids to see, even I don’t want to see! Nevertheless it has its good points as well.

If he hasn’t got a card the twitch can’t be accessed then surely? I wouldn’t worry if that’s the case.

Agree. It’s really not a big deal. It’s great for animal crossing tho!

I have twitch, didn't need to put card details in to it for basic access.

Hate the word "grass", @TomNook, it's vile. I work with teenage boys and I hear it all the time and it's used in a bullying capacity. Horrible.
FWIW, my older son just said "you might wanna just check his account, I think I've just found one belonging to him." He didn't even really look through it that much, just was making me aware of its existence.

I probably haven't made myself clear in my intentions in posting. I know it's normal for teens to swear online, and i know that under 16 year olds lie to open social media accounts but he's quite immature for his age, and I'm most worried about his gaming habit escalating. It's crept up to 8 hours a day and I Had to speak to school when I discovered he had not been doing any school work during lockdown. He cried when he knew I'd found out. Told me he'd change and put more effort in. And then he was back doing the same thing a few weeks later!!

I think mainly I'm just worried about his immaturity and if I can trust what he's telling me. I have seen teens put in their parents/ card details to pay for gaming stuff and while I like to think he would never do that, I'm not totally naiive and realise that temptation sometimes does get to them.

I hate bloody lockdown and online learning and what it's done to teens who were already using screens too much.

Also why would he be trying to make out to others that he's 16?

Ah. A drip feed.

You definitely need to cut down his gaming but I assume he'll be going back to school next week?
I'm quite relaxed with my DS and social media as I check it regularly but I won't let him have a twitter account because they allow pornography to be posted. That's apart from the paedophile communities, fetishist communities and general disgustingness of so many parts of twitter.

@TomNook

Ah. A drip feed.

No it isn't!

Normal to have twitter and other social media at that age. The min age is 13 so no need to lie to get access.

Mine have been on games a lot more but with being stuck in a lot more that’s natural. They will be back at school with clubs and homework next week so won’t be on there much.

To be honest I can't see any issue really. He will be back at school next week where he can't spend all day gaming, we have all been filling our time with screens I'd imagine, I know I have been online a LOT more than I usually would,
Wait and see how it goes, and maybe have a chat with him about exactly why you don't like Twitter, if you can be open and honest, he is much more likely to be also

Well we had a chat with him about it. He said he put his age as 16 because he thought he might get weirdos messaging him if he put his real age. So I explained that making out he was 16 could bring problems in itself if he wasn’t careful. He hadn’t considered that and offered to put his real age but DH said changing it now could attract some nasty comments from people who don’t know him, when they realise, so to just leave it. We talked about nastiness that you sometimes get on Twitter so suggested he mainly use it with his friends, which I think he is doing anyway.

DS apologised for slagging us off as parents online even though I wasn’t hugely bothered about that. I just said it was normal for teenagers to moan about their parents sometimes but that he actually had a decent set of parents compared to many and he might want to consider that when he got annoyed at us for wanting to limit his screen time as he we have been more than generous with the length of time he’s been on it. He did agree and looked a bit sheepish. Normal teen stuff.

We also spoke about agreeing a time limit for weekdays and weekends when he goes back to school. He himself suggested 2 hours on a weekday, which I was surprised at as it’s usually more than that during normal school times. Maybe he feels like his use is out of control and will welcome the boundary. DH will put some blocker on or something which means he won’t be able to go on Fortnite after the 2 hrs.

Hopefully going back to school will sort him out again. He desperately needs the routine of school so praying for no more lockdowns! And Hopefully he’ll stop slagging off our “FUCKING ETHERNET” on his Twitter because he’s done badly in a game . (There’s nothing wrong with it, we are in a large city with super fast broadband)

DD is about to go in to Year 10 and has asked permission to have a twitter account a few times. I have said no just because I think it is a vile, toxic place and I can’t stand it. She has everything else (Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok) so she’s hardly missing out.

DS (12) has a Twitch account for streaming without a card linked to it. His time spent gaming has also crept up since March but that will all be changing this week.

It sounds like the main problem is that he's been largely unsupervised for the past several months. I get that it's been hard for people, but you can't just expect your 14yr old to self-regulate and prioritise school work without frequent checkups and supervision!

DS has a twitter account mainly so he can follow people from his hobby and only interacts with people he knows. He doesn't have is age on there though, especially not in his username.