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How Young Is Too Young to Use Social Media?
- Thread starter Wessel
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I would say 13 and above is a good age for a child to have social media as long as their parents check their account regularly and are watching what they are doing on it. My kids are all above the age of 13 now with my two eldest being 17 and 19 and they all have social media, the two younger ones are 15 and 13 and I have the ability to access their accounts to keep an eye on what they are doing but they are usually quite open if they know something is happening that they know is wrong.
I think a kid that is up to 14 years should be able to use the social media. However, it is important that the parents ensure that they monitor the children's activity on the internet to avoid them doing the wrong things when they are still small.
Each kid is different as far as maturity goes, so I would gauge it upon that criteria. All 16 year olds should have access to it, but I think they should still allow parents to snoop for their own safety, even though they wouldn't want that.
I'd say 13... I certainly wouldn't go up to 18.
I understand the need to keep kids out of harm's way. But we can't simply wrap them in cotton wool until they're adults. On the contrary, when they're in their teenage years, I think it's entirely healthy for them to be exploring who they are, learning about adulthood, and forming their own identity separate from that of their parents as they learn how to fend for themselves. A system of "Under-18s should have ZERO privacy" would honestly be counter-productive IMO: it'd just discourage teenagers from doing that, and stunt their personal development. And then we'd end up with a load of immature 18-year-olds who have no life experience - and we'd all start debating whether under-25s should have any internet privacy.
Like I said, there is a need to keep kids out of harm's way, and parents should be keeping an eye on their children. But I do think the level of oversight needs to change as the child gets older. If it's a 5-year-old child, then obviously I think the parents should have near-total control (and that should continue to be the case until they're 13). But if it's a 17-year-old? Then I think the parents should mostly just let them be - and only stop them if they're doing something that's actively dangerous (or doing something they really disagree with).
I understand the need to keep kids out of harm's way. But we can't simply wrap them in cotton wool until they're adults. On the contrary, when they're in their teenage years, I think it's entirely healthy for them to be exploring who they are, learning about adulthood, and forming their own identity separate from that of their parents as they learn how to fend for themselves. A system of "Under-18s should have ZERO privacy" would honestly be counter-productive IMO: it'd just discourage teenagers from doing that, and stunt their personal development. And then we'd end up with a load of immature 18-year-olds who have no life experience - and we'd all start debating whether under-25s should have any internet privacy.
Like I said, there is a need to keep kids out of harm's way, and parents should be keeping an eye on their children. But I do think the level of oversight needs to change as the child gets older. If it's a 5-year-old child, then obviously I think the parents should have near-total control (and that should continue to be the case until they're 13). But if it's a 17-year-old? Then I think the parents should mostly just let them be - and only stop them if they're doing something that's actively dangerous (or doing something they really disagree with).
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Uncrowned Guard
Forum Islander
I was actually a strong supporter when Facebook stated they wanted to create a children's only social media platform. I know it would not have been perfect, but I also believe kids need some exposure to the tech world that they will be thrown into as a teenager. Sadly the backlash was too much and as far as I know it is still a dead project.
It sounds like a nice idea - but to be honest, I'm not sure who would use it.
IMO, it'd only work if you could stop kids from getting onto Facebook itself. But as we all know, that simply isn't possible - and they'd be unlikely to use a 'kiddy' version of Facebook once they'd experienced the real thing.
Henrywrites
Forum Islander
18 is the age over here, but I see kids that are even 13 handling mobile devices. It is a bit strange as I wonder what those kids are doing on the internet. Maybe they use it for educational purposes, but one can't rule out other things that comes with going on social media.
