According to The Wallstreet Journal, Facebook is working on creating a technology that will allow children under 13 to use the social networking site. This might not seem like big news because so many kids under 13 already lie about their age and use Facebook anyway, but this is a topic of big controversy. Should we really be condoning young children to use this site? Is it appropriate for them? Well, Facebook wants to set up something that will make the children under 13 have to have parental supervision. This could definitely allow Facebook to tap into a new pool of users for increased profits but, there will definitely be some people with privacy concerns.
According to The Wallstreet Journal, Facebook is working on creating a technology that will allow children under 13 to use the social networking site. This might not seem like big news because so many kids under 13 already lie about their age and use Facebook anyway, but this is a topic of big controversy. Should we really be condoning young children to use this site? Is it appropriate for them? Well, Facebook wants to set up something that will make the children under 13 have to have parental supervision. This could definitely allow Facebook to tap into a new pool of users for increased profits but, there will definitely be some people with privacy concerns.
As a concerned parent, I would think that Facebook has a duty to start involving parents in younger children’s Facebook activity. Some of the methods being tested out for this include connecting the younger children’s accounts to their parents’ accounts and also putting in controls that would give parents the power to decide whom their kids can “friend” and what apps they can use. Also, this would allow Facebook to charge the parents for the games and apps that their children access, which is why this idea seems so appealing to Facebook in terms of profitability.
Facebook wants to formalize the younger kids’ presence on this social media site because they’re already using it, so we might as well acknowledge that. Personally, I know of kids as young as 10 that access Facebook on a daily basis. Their parents know about it, but I think that we should really be working on protecting the younger users. By creating some more controls for the younger kids, Facebook can protect their privacy and keep parents informed about what their kids are doing online. I would want to know what my child is doing on Facebook. I would want to know what she’s posting on that site for all her friends to see. I definitely don’t want to end up like the guy who shot his daughter’s laptop. He was a concerned parent that was failed by the inability to monitor his daughter’s Facebook account. We need Facebook to add something for us to keep our children in check on this site.
Younger kids are relying on technology more and more. There are kids in elementary school that own an iPhone and a laptop. Honestly, they really don’t need most of the things they have, and us parents have done everything we can to give our kids the best childhood they could possibly have. Now it’s our turn to get some say in what our kids do. We deserve to have some input about our children’s online presence. If Facebook formalizes a process for children under 13, concerned parents will definitely benefit.
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