Are social networks child friendly? [Herald.ie]
- Published: 31 January 2011
LIKE more than 500 million people around the world, I have a Facebook account.
My son, who is eight years of age, would like one too. Aside from the fact that his mother and I don't think it's wise for a child of his age to be surfing the internet, Facebook doesn't allow it. Most popular social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, restrict the minimum age of their users to 13. But that doesn't stop pre-teens from setting up accounts by entering a false age.
Resourceful
A large part of the appeal of Facebook is its accessibility. It's ridiculously easy to set up an account. Just to prove it, I set up a page in my son's name. All I needed was an email address (which his mother and I have the password for) and when it came to entering his age, I simply wrote that he was five years older than he actually is. Simple. It takes less than five minutes.
"It's up to parents themselves," says Catherine Bolger, registered psychologist with DIT. "They have a responsibility to strictly supervise their children's and young teens' access to any internet sites -- not just social networking sites. It sounds obvious but parents need to know what their children are doing."
Full Story: www.herald.ie
