Should Kidz Be On www.facebook.com?
Many parents during the last few months have asked Street Smart
Kidz our opinion on whether or not they should allow their kids to
join www.facebook.com, and whether or not it's safe to do so.
We always have the same answer for eveyone. Allowing your children
to join is a personal decision only you can make. www.facebook.com policy
states you must be 13 years of age to join.
Street Smart Kidz
recommends not allowing your children to join until they are 16. As
for whether it's safe, the answer is yes. www.facebook.com is safe! IF you take
the time to read and set the controls over their profiles and the way
their personal information is shared.
The reason we recommend not joining
www.facebook.com until 16 is because
most kids don't have a clear understanding of the word FOREVER. As
adults, we know that whatever we put on the net is FOREVER. You can
never take back threats, obscene comments or inappropriate pictures
once they are out there. It's FOREVER!
More and more life effecting decisions are being made about people
because of what's on
www.facebook.com.
-
College applications are being denied as
recruiters review a applicants www.facebook.com page and their friends.
-
It's
effecting peoples jobs, promotions and potential hiring.
-
Governments
are now cutting off benefits because of what is being posted on www.facebook.com accounts.
This is not
www.facebook.coms fault!
The blame solely belongs to the people who posted this information,
and we don't believe most children under 16 have the capacity to
understand the ramifications of what they post.
If and when you allow your child to join
www.facebook.com, please make sure
you spend the 3 hours it will take to go through all of the 5,830 word
official www.facebook.com policy, and the 51 settings and 170 different
security options before allowing your child to use their new account.
Go through all of it together, so your kids can make the right
decisions and you can explain the word FOREVER.
Steven
|
