Kids and Facebook

How old should a child be to be on social media? This is a hot question today. Michelle Obama made some comments lately that provoked a lot of debate among parents. Speaking of her daughters, she said, “I’m not a big fan of children having FB, it’s not something they need.” Social media like Facebook have a policy requiring kids to be at least 13 years old. But is this too young? Here is what a study, the Internet and American Life Project funded by the Pew Foundation, recently discovered. This study found that 93% of children 12 to 17 are online.
73% of them are on one or more social media. This means that a lot of 12 and 13 year olds are using social media.
In a recent survey conducted by ABC News, most parents feel that age 15 is the youngest for social media. Even more striking, 43% of parents felt that social media are not appropriate for anyone under 18 years of age. Obviously, there is a disconnect between what parents said in the ABC survey and the amount of kids who are using social media according to the Pew study.
So what is a parent to do? Here are some things to consider:
The maturity level of your child.
Your child's school performance.
How social is your child?
What real activities is your child involved in?
How much are you willing and able to monitor your child's activity?
Regardless of the age which you select for your child's participation in social media, you want to impress upon your child some important safeguards:
Only allow selected friends to see your child's information and posts.
Never provide address and home or cell phone numbers.
Make sure your child understands that inappropriate photographs, posts, and comments can cause great harm, impact future job prospects, etc.
Have all passwords and make sure you can access all of their accounts. Go on their social media on a regular basis to monitor your child's activity.
Blessings,
Dr. Paul