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Marija Kovačević

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How young is too young for social networking?

Kids nowdays have facebook accounts as soon as they start reading. I had to make a special group of my fb friends who are under age (mostly family friends' kids), so I can block certain content from them.
But today, a 10 year old girl posted some photos of her friends. The girls wore little clothes, one only a shirt, and the picture was titled: Be stupid!, as the famous jeans company campaign. I found the pictures disturbing... and got me thinking how easy it is for the creeps on the internet!
So, I'm asking you:
Should there be/is there a way to control the kids online, now when there are so many "security" features on facebook? It's easy to hide a picture/a post only from certain people (like your parents)
Is it really important for a 10 yo to have a facebook/myspace/google+ account?

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    Donna Karlin

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    Aug 18 2011: It's not about age as much as it's about teaching our kids what to look out for, what to red flag and discuss with us. It's about learning how to discern, what and who to trust and what to share publicly. We need to teach them that FB is searchable and their future could be influenced by what they share and how. If we teach them young enough, they'll have the best skills to deal with people within and outside social media.

    It's not important for them to have an account but if they're going to, I'd much rather know about it and teach them the skills to deal with it than keep it a secret. If they hide it, then they won't come to us unless it's almost too late.

    Important question!

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