Is it safe for 9, 10, 11- year-olds to be on social networking websites?
Add Comment By Amrita Sheokand | November 03, 2009
In my previous post I wrote about how technology is isolating young children from the real world these days. Let’s talk about social networking sites for a moment. Most adults are on at least one such site be it Facebook, LinkdIn or the myriad other networking websites. Most sites require an age limit of 13 to open an account. But there is no way to verify.
The result is that there are young children faking their ages to open accounts on these sites. In some cases the parents are aware of the account, know the password and even monitor their child’s activity online. They are also aware that their child is pretending to be older.
Scientists are torn on the consequences of children being exposed to social networking as early as 9, 10 or 11.
“Some scientists worry that pre-adolescent use of the sites, which some therapists have linked to Internet addiction among adults, could be damaging to children's relationships and brains,” according to a story on CNN.
But others believe there is not enough research to prove that this behavior will have dire consequences because most children seem to use the internet in moderation and in positive ways.
As a parent, I don’t want to wait for there to be solid research to tell me I should have waited for her to be older to interact with people online. I would not take that chance.
Kids like to play games like Farmville on these sites. I’m sure I can find other places for her to play similar games without having an online persona.
What do you think? Do you allow your children to have accounts on social networking sites? Or do you think this generation is more media savvy and it makes sense to encourage them to do what others their age are doing?