6 Comments

1. 

   jacob on March 29, 2010 at 8:45 am

   I’m surprised the video neglected to say that Facebook has rules against children under 13 using their site.

   Reply
2. 

   ldb on March 29, 2010 at 10:49 am

   Like these rules will stop young people from creating their accounts and profiles.

   I support what the lady from the Department of Justice said…

   The kid in this video said he had his myspace account to “contact his mom” when he could not reach her… so, that means that his mother is not checking on him 100% when he’s using his account.

   Reply
3. 

   Rob Watson on March 29, 2010 at 11:03 am

   My older kids only have email accounts. I set up a family domain name through Google Sites and through its managed email accounts system I set up accounts with obfuscated names for each child. Then, I set up a filter in the gmail system to act as a sort of “whitelist” for who could email them. The filter automatically deletes (skipping even the “trash” folder) any email that isn’t from a specific list of trusted friends and family members. If someone outside of that list does attempt to email them, the filter also forwards me that email so I can review it to see if it’s legitimately a known friend to add to trusted contacts or just spam.

   To avoid my kids messing with the filter now or in the future, I don’t tell them the password to their account in Google Sites. Instead, I set up Outlook or Thunderbird mail clients on the PC so they can send and receive messages there. All the gmail login stuff is completely out of their hands.

   It’s very simple. You don’t even need the family domain to do it. Just a gmail account for each child, configured as I’ve mentioned above.

   Reply
4. 

   Spencer on March 29, 2010 at 12:30 pm

   Larry,

   Another concern I have deals with monitoring my younger children with the extended family’s social media activities.

   Once a photo is taken of my little ones, where will it end up? Who’s going to see it? What information is being given out? With a large extended family it’s tricky to monitor everything online that might include my kids. I worry that some teenager from the extended family may help my underage child set up their own account on a social media site without telling us. Not that they’re trying to cause harm, but it’s a new and exciting medium for people, especially teens and they don’t see the potential risks.

   I’m not sure how to approach my extend family and what exactly the rules should be.

   Reply
5. 

   Todd on March 29, 2010 at 5:39 pm

   As was mentioned, users need to be at least 13 years of age to be on Facebook. If you know of any Facebook user who is under 13, it’s very easy to report them. See http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=937#!/help/?faq=16109

   When notified, Facebook will remove underage users. It’s too much of a legal liability.

   Reply
6. 

   Katie on March 29, 2010 at 8:39 pm

   I do think parents need to be wary of becoming too alarmist about the dangers of the internet. While young children shouldn’t be using the internet willy nilly, I do think there are appropriate levels of freedom depending on the age and maturity of the child. There are many good things that can be done online and through social networking sites in the midst of the bad.

   I think it is much more effective protection to teach your children how to be safe on the internet than to just cut them off. Otherwise, when your child turns 18 and leaves the house he or she will have no clue how to be safe on the internet and will be a much easier victim. You wouldn’t keep your child from driving a car until they’re 18, just to then hand them the keys so they can learn on their own. Likewise, safe and effective internet use really requires experience as you learn what to avoid and what is safe.

   Facebook can be a great starter site for appropriately aged kids as you have so much control over who they talk to and what they see. You also can point out other people’s bad examples, talking to kids about why you don’t want to put information online that might embarass you or endanger you if the wrong person saw it. Facebook also does a good job of making sure things like porn are kept off the site. All in all, it’s probably one of the safer places on the internet to see.

   The laziest thing to do as a parent is to let your child do whatever he or she wants on the internet. The next easiest thing is just to cut them off completely from the internet, so they never encounter it. The strategy that requires the most work, and is the best for your child, is to sit with your child and supervise their internet use and teach them how to use it safely.

   Reply