{"id":96534,"date":"2019-10-31T03:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T10:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/securingtomorrow.mcafee.com\/?p=96534"},"modified":"2025-08-20T08:53:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T15:53:50","slug":"from-tweens-to-teens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/family-safety\/from-tweens-to-teens\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter Preview: Ages 11 to 17 \u2013 From Tweens to Teens"},"content":{"rendered":"

For anyone who asks what happens during the tween through teen years, the best answer is probably, \u201cWhat doesn\u2019t<\/em> happen?!\u201d<\/p>\n

Just so you know, I\u2019ve been there, done that, and got the T-shirt. And I survived. My kids were the first generation to grow up on social media. Like most teens in the mid-2000s, they got their first taste with MySpace and then switched to Facebook as the masses shifted there around 2009. They also got into other platforms, like Instagram, and stuck with them while others came and went. And yes, sharing almost every facet of their lives presented many challenges. I won\u2019t get into details here as it might embarrass my kids, but suffice it to say that mistakes were made.<\/p>\n

Being a security and privacy practitioner, I made sure there were lots of discussions on how to use these platforms safely. The early discussions centered on privacy and the permanence of data, but eventually led to security talks as the platforms were inundated with scams and other malicious activities. As you can imagine, when my kids were tweens and teens, the internet was a different place than it is today, and I\u2019m sure it will be very different 10 to 15 years from now.<\/p>\n