--- title: Why You Should Friend Your Child on Facebook description: New research shows that connecting on multiple platforms can lead to a happier parent-child relationship canonical: https://time.com/3619108/friend-your-child-facebook/ author: Real Simple article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-24T12:14:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:42:45.317Z og:title: Why You Should Friend Your Child on Facebook og:description: New research shows that connecting on multiple platforms can lead to a happier parent-child relationship og:url: https://time.com/3619108/friend-your-child-facebook/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e3f4ff156aa85c7/69876cd3e53aba40874d656f/friend-child-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4124 og:image:height: 2320 og:image:alt: Laptop og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why You Should Friend Your Child on Facebook twitter:description: New research shows that connecting on multiple platforms can lead to a happier parent-child relationship twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e3f4ff156aa85c7/69876cd3e53aba40874d656f/friend-child-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why You Should Friend Your Child on Facebook > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, twice weekly), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=587f6b77-cf77-4fb2-8c79-db9dbed76bcc&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Real Simple](https://time.com/author/real-simple/) ## Real Simple Dec 24, 2014 12:14 PM UTC  Laptop Laptop Plainview—Getty Images by [Real Simple](https://time.com/author/real-simple/) ## Real Simple Dec 24, 2014 12:14 PM UTC _This_ [_article_](http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/family/kids-parenting/parent-child-communication) _originally appeared on_ [_RealSimple.com_](http://www.realsimple.com/)_._ Move over, landlines—it’s time to embrace more modern forms of communication. New research published in [_Emerging Adulthood_](http://eax.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/09/23/2167696814551786.abstract) suggests that reaching out to your children through multiple platforms can ultimately lead to a better relationship. Jennifer Schon, a doctoral candidate in communication studies at the University of Kansas, had previously studied how communication technologies improved friendships, and took those findings to hypothesize that it might have the same effect on parents and their adult children. She surveyed 367 young adults between 18 and 29 years to find out which platforms they used to connect with their parents, how often their parents used that technology, and how satisfied they were in their relationships with mom or dad. Communication technologies ranged from landlines to emails to social networks like Facebook and Snapchat. ### This Is What Your Facebook Profile Looked Like Over the Last 11 Years  The Original Facebook Group Page, 2004\. Before people realized how awesome pictures are. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2005\. Back when Facebook looked a little bit like MySpace. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page Facelift, 2005\. The "the" is finally dropped. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2006\. You no longer need to be reminded "this is you" at the top of your profile page. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2007\. Every profile update still had to begin with "is," forcing you to talk about yourself in the third person. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2008\. The wall. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2009\. It only took five years for Facebook to create easy-to-find privacy settings. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2010\. Facebook starts to get pretty. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2011\. Zuckerberg realizes that people love pictures, usually of animals. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2012\. The timeline allows you (or your parents) to trace your life from birth to death. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2013-2014\. Facebook introduced a new app, Paper, on Monday. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2014-2015\. Facebook updated both the newsfeed algorithm and the privacy settings. Courtesy of Alex Fitzpatrick/Facebook ([MORE: Why Do Children Lie, Cheat, and Steal?](http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/family/kids-parenting/why-do-children-lie-00100000064184/index.html?xid=time-rs-111814)) Adding just one additional mode of communication correlated to increased relationship quality and satisfaction, Schon found. Most reported using an average of three channels to communicate with parents—the most common being cell phone, text messaging, and email. Many parents also connected through landlines and social networking sites. For parents who already email, text, and call their children frequently, the occasional Facebook message might only serve to improve communication. “A lot of parents might resist new technologies. They don’t see the point in them, or they seem like a lot of trouble,” Schon said in a [statement](https://news.ku.edu/relationships-benefit-when-parents-connect-adult-children-through-multiple-communication-channels-0). “But this study shows while it might take some work and learning, it would be worth it in the end if you are trying to have a good relationship with your adult child.” ([MORE: Mother-Daughter Relationships](http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/family/relationships/mother-daughter-relationships-10000001612778/index.html?xid=time-rs-111814)) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3619108/friend-your-child-facebook/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3619108/friend-your-child-facebook/"},"headline":"Why You Should Friend Your Child on Facebook","datePublished":"2014-12-24T12:14:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:45.317Z","description":"New research shows that connecting on multiple platforms can lead to a happier parent-child relationship","url":"https://time.com/3619108/friend-your-child-facebook/","keywords":["Living","Parenting","Children","Family","facebook"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e3f4ff156aa85c7/69876cd3e53aba40874d656f/friend-child-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Real Simple","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/real-simple/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e3f4ff156aa85c7/69876cd3e53aba40874d656f/friend-child-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Laptop","caption":"Laptop","creditText":"Plainview—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3619108/friend-your-child-facebook/","name":"Why You Should Friend Your Child on Facebook"}}]}] ```