Surfing for Trouble?
One of my latest pet peeves is that kids grow up entirely too fast these days. They act older than they should, and they are exposed to things they shouldn't be at a very early age. Is it just me or does every kid you know have a Facebook/Myspace account? I hate this, and think it's completely unnecessary. This article discusses these social networking sites, and asks "How young is too young?"
I know how this all started. Kids love to mimic their parents, they see them checking their Facebook accounts, updating their status', or giggling at their friends latest mobile upload. They see how much fun it is, and naturally want to experience that kind of fun with their friends. I think anyone under 15 should not have any sort of online profile. Anymore I see parents letting 8,9, or 10 year olds create FB profiles. As this article states, "Facebook and Myspace require users to be at least 13. But they have no practical way to verify ages, and many young users pretend to be older when signing up." Maybe that's why so many parents give into their children's pleas. They know their children will find a way to create a profile, so they let them do it anyway with a few stipulations. They get to have their login info including password, and they get to monitor their activity and have final say on any friend requests. Being open and honest with your children is always the best choice, but parents keep in mind your innocent little children are very sneaky and you probably haven't the slightest clue of what they are capable of. Children that young have terrible judgment and are very naive about what consequences could result from online activity. If they give out too much personal information they might find themselves a victim to an online predator. Research presented in this article states, "In two surveys reported this year by Pew Internet Research--of 700 and 935 teens, respectively--38 percent of respondents ages 12 to 14 said they had an online profile of some sort. Sixty-one percent of those in the study, ages 12 to 17, said they use social-networking sites to send messages to friends, and 42 percent said they do so everyday." These numbers do not shock me. Everybody I can possibly think of has a FB account. A lot of my friends kids have sent friend requests to me. I always "ignore" them. At first people tend to be offended when I do so. It's never meant to be taken that way. My philosophy is that my business is not meant for everybody to know. I don't want children, co-workers, and even some family members to know my personal business. I keep it personal and only share with my close friends.
I understand that we live in a technologically advanced world. I'm grateful that we do, but I guess I just want kids to be kids as long as possible. I'm tired of them rushing the process!
I know how this all started. Kids love to mimic their parents, they see them checking their Facebook accounts, updating their status', or giggling at their friends latest mobile upload. They see how much fun it is, and naturally want to experience that kind of fun with their friends. I think anyone under 15 should not have any sort of online profile. Anymore I see parents letting 8,9, or 10 year olds create FB profiles. As this article states, "Facebook and Myspace require users to be at least 13. But they have no practical way to verify ages, and many young users pretend to be older when signing up." Maybe that's why so many parents give into their children's pleas. They know their children will find a way to create a profile, so they let them do it anyway with a few stipulations. They get to have their login info including password, and they get to monitor their activity and have final say on any friend requests. Being open and honest with your children is always the best choice, but parents keep in mind your innocent little children are very sneaky and you probably haven't the slightest clue of what they are capable of. Children that young have terrible judgment and are very naive about what consequences could result from online activity. If they give out too much personal information they might find themselves a victim to an online predator. Research presented in this article states, "In two surveys reported this year by Pew Internet Research--of 700 and 935 teens, respectively--38 percent of respondents ages 12 to 14 said they had an online profile of some sort. Sixty-one percent of those in the study, ages 12 to 17, said they use social-networking sites to send messages to friends, and 42 percent said they do so everyday." These numbers do not shock me. Everybody I can possibly think of has a FB account. A lot of my friends kids have sent friend requests to me. I always "ignore" them. At first people tend to be offended when I do so. It's never meant to be taken that way. My philosophy is that my business is not meant for everybody to know. I don't want children, co-workers, and even some family members to know my personal business. I keep it personal and only share with my close friends.
I understand that we live in a technologically advanced world. I'm grateful that we do, but I guess I just want kids to be kids as long as possible. I'm tired of them rushing the process!
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