I was interviewed via phone yesterday morning for a story a reporter is doing on social networking sites (SNS - ex. Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, etc.). She had looked at some profiles on Bebo and was surprised at the level of profanity and the nature of some of the pictures on this SNS. I'm not all that familiar with Bebo, so couldn't really comment much on that SNS specifically. She was also interested in the impact of children viewing profanity and other things on these sites.
One of the things the reporter wondered was whether there was an age that was too young for children to use SNS. That is a good question. There are now so many different sites available and so many ways to form networks related to particular interests/topics on any given site that they could potentially be interesting to children of almost all ages who are capable of understanding how to use a computer.
So, I wonder, at what age will you let your children use social networking sites? My 22 month old already loves playing with the computer when we're on it. I'm not ready for her to have her own website or blog yet, but maybe soon : )
I wonder what the future will hold for the youth of today in terms of technology and the social impacts of technology. Any thoughts on this topic?
15 years ago
2 comments:
I have friends that have Club Penguin SNS accounts for this 5-10 year olds.
My parents always said my Brother and I could have a T.V. in our room when we could afford to buy it ourselves. Therefore I didn't have a t.v. in my room until senior year in high school when I could afford to buy my Brother's used t.v. this made it so whatever I watched was on the family television and my parents knew what I was watching. I will do the same for my children as well as with the computer. The computer will be placed in a room in the house that is frequented and since my Husband is a computer wiz, he will hopefully be able to look at the history. Although, I won't be surprised if the kids will be smart enough to cover their tracks. On another note, my 12 year old cousin has a myspace account. So do most of his friends and they have to lie about their age because they are too young to have one. I was completely astonished to find out he didn't have his profile set to private and walked him through the steps to set it up. He thanked me, but I do think it could be pretty dangerous.
More info than you needed?
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