Underage Users of Facebook
Essay by atltaylor1 • August 2, 2017 • Case Study • 912 Words (4 Pages) • 1,147 Views
Underage Users of Facebook
Underage users of social media have been problem recently. From the users of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc., there are many under the age of 13 are using these social media. I will be focusing more on Facebook because there are 7.5 million users that are under the age of 13 have an account according to ABC news. This article was written in the year of 2011. Can you imagine how many children now are joining Facebook? I truly believe it increased after 2011.
As a parent, I strongly disagree that under the age of 13 to have a Facebook account, they should not be allowed to have one due to there are many inappropriate page for children that they go in there. Social media has problems of verifying age and this is how it happened, children under the age of 13 have created accounts on Facebook. Kids are very clever to lie about their age so they can visit any sites that they do not belong. Facebook policy strictly prohibits anyone under the age of 13 from operating an account. As you’re probably well aware, plenty of kids under the age of 13 operate Facebook accounts. That’s because people are allowed to lie on the Internet, which must be shocking to you, I know. (www.webpronews.com, 2013)
The annual survey, which looks at the "State of the Net," asked more than 2,000 U.S. households with an Internet connection about their experiences with online security threats, social networks and identity theft. Jeff Fox, technology editor for Consumer Reports, said the 7.5 million figures was extrapolated from the number of parents surveyed who knew that their underage children were Facebook members. But even that number could be low, he said, because they can't estimate the number of kids who join the site without their parents' knowledge. (www.abcnew.go.com, 2011). If these parents do allowed their children to have Facebook, they should be monitoring their Facebook page everyday. There are many hackers and predators that target our children to victimize them. An example is that a friend of mine allows her children 11 & 9 years of age to have Facebook account that I do not condone. However, she and her husband do monitor her account often. The question that I debate with them and to any parents out there is “How safe is Facebook for our young children?” Teaching them how to lie about their age so they can have an account? I do not think that is right and it is not truly safe for our children. “Those kids face the same kinds of danger that even older kids and teens face on social media – scammers, bullies, criminals. Just yesterday, a U.S. Appeals Court ruled that convicted sex offenders cannot be barred from operating Facebook accounts, as it’s unconstitutional to deny them such a ubiquitous form of communication. I happen to agree with the ruling, but I’m sure there are plenty of parents out there who, upon hearing a headline like that, immediately imagine their children being preyed upon.” (www.webpronews.com, 2013)
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