Social Media and Young Families

By: Marcin Sajda

As children’s exposure to technology begins at an early age, so does there introduction to social media. Some questions parents might be asking themselves are; when should I allow my child to have a Facebook page, how do I restrict what my child watches online, how do I limit my child’s usage. These are just a few examples of questions that parents are asking and should be asking.

Adapted from http://www.news.com.au/

There are both positive and negative aspects of letting children use social media at a young age. Social media allows them to connect within an online community. It allows the children to learn, explore and share. Although there are also many dangers such as, predators, over-sharing of personal information, cyber-bullying, exposure to inappropriate content, and development of mental health issues, regarding self-esteem and identity. With children being so vulnerable, parents need to educate their kids on safe practices, so children learn at a young age how to use this medium responsibility. 

In the article “Letting Children Under 13 on Facebook Could Make Them Safer” author Larry Magid, discusses how many children under 13 are signed up to Facebook, even though the age restriction is 13 and over. Since Facebook only restricts you if you give a date of birth under an age of 13, most children learn to lie about their birthday. The article discuss how a Harvard research study indicated that 68% of parents help their kids lie to make a Facebook account and  95% knew that there kids were using the accounts. The study indicated how parents want their kids to have a public profile, but they were monitoring there use. Magid had an opportunity to meet with Mark Zuckerberg creator of Facebook, and brought up the issue of creating a way Facebook could be safer for those under 13. Zuckerberg discussed how it was something that had been talked about, yet legal restrictions have placed it at the bottom of their list (Magid, 2012). Is this perhaps the future of social media, if Facebook were able to stream a way to make their site available in ‘child friendly’ mode, it is more than likely other outlets would follow suit. Could this be a potential solution to introducing younger children to social media in the future?

Resources:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrymagid/2012/06/04/letting-children-under-13-on-facebook-could-make-them-safer/

http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2013/06/14/1226663/531703-computer-and-monitor-and-parents-and-kids.jpg