Google +, the new social networking service from Google, was in the news recently for shutting down the account of a 10-year-old kid in Europe. They shut him down because he violated their rule that a person needs to be at least 13 to join. Now Facebook has a similar rule in place. But every kid out there lies about his age to get on Facebook. Is this okay? Should you allow children on Facebook? What is the parental position on this supposed to be?
Okay, let’s first see what the law has to say in the matter. The only law that could apply is the Child Online Privacy Protection Act. And that law doesn't say anything about how old children on Facebook or Google + have to be. All it does is, to ban any social network from collecting personal information that children under 13 might key into their computers. If there were an award for the most ignored law in America, this one would get it. According to Consumer Reports, about half of all 10-year-olds in America are on Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, recently said that he didn't see why children on Facebook should be a bad thing and that Facebook was removing the 13-year rule soon.
But whatever the law or Facebook say, parents need to come up with an opinion in the matter themselves. There really are risks to putting your child on Facebook. Cyber-bullying, where bullies from school stalk some poor kid and hound him on Facebook, can be a very real threat that young children just have no way to defend themselves against. And then there are actual predatory criminals who try to get to children online too. Children who have access to cameras and Facebook can post some pretty graphic pictures of themselves online too – something that they will come to regret later. Scientists don't believe that spending time socializing online is good for developing child's brain either.
And of course, the most immediate concern to any parent is the fact that a child can waste a great deal of time staring at the computer screen typing up meaningless conversation. It can interfere with sleep, it can interfere with school work.
Of course, socializing on Facebook does have its benefits; that's why nearly a billion people worldwide are on the network. But there are very real dangers too. In general, parents agree that children on Facebook need to be very closely monitored. Parents need to know their children's passwords and to keep a close watch on everything that goes on. If they can do this, there certainly is no reason why a little Facebook should be out of the question.
