Rules
Children may lie about age
There had been a proposal by the European Union to ban Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other services from processing personal data belonging to chilren under the age of 16, unless their parents had given consent. Such a move would have prevented companies from offering their services to young people. I believe that social networking sites should absolutely have age restrictions. There are far too many anonymous aspects regarding the internet which make social networking sites very dangerous for children and teens. Many child predators lurk these social media sites. The content that people put on these sites is often inappropriate for young kids. They are sites that could lead to some people cyber bullying others, too. Social media is also in a way promoting conditions like depression. However, there are too many loop-holes to implement such a decision. Children can easily find ways to lie about their age on social media. During teenage, children usually tend to try out things they are told not to. Though not impossible, it is slightly difficult to know what children are exactly up to. An outright ban would push such a need to lie, however if parental consent is requires, parents can make their children aware of the dangers of social media, and lay out rules for them before they give their consent for their children to be on social media sites. This may help keep transparency to some extent between the child’s activities on social media and the parent’s understanding of these activities.
From Ms Vidya R.
HR consultant based in Dubai
Awareness
It will make parents more aware
The minimum age to open an account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Kik, and Snapchat is 13. For Vine, Tinder need users to be above the age of 17 and YouTube account holders need to be above 18, but a 13-year-old can sign up with a parent’s permission. Despite these clearly stated and published age restrictions, large and growing numbers of children, even under 12 are using social media networks, often with their parent’s knowledge and consent. According to The Social Age Study by knowthenet.org.uk, approximately 59% of children have already used a social network by the time they are 10. Facebook has the most users under the age of 13. 52 per cent of 8 to 16-year-olds admit they ignore Facebook’s age restriction. Young children are flocking to social media sites to post and share photos, and to collect likes from their friends. Instagram makes it difficult for young kids to sign up by providing a birthday picker that doesn’t let a new user select an age under 13. Regardless, children easily fake their birthdays and use their parents accounts to download Instagram to their own devices. It is true that requirement for parental consent from age 13 to age 16 will make parents more aware of their children’s activity on social media but the truth is, you don’t need the government or social media companies to implement such a rule. As a parent, you will probably already know if your child is on social media or not. If they are, then you need to monitor their activity strictly and have regular conversations with them about what they are allowed to do on these websites.
From Mr Renny Varghese
Call center executive based in Mumbai, India
Technology
Internet is the present and future
I don’t agree with people who think children need to be banned from using social media websites. That’s closing up access to a whole part of the technologically developed world for them. Internet is the present and will be the near future too. A higher-age threshold would deprive young people of educational and social opportunities in a number of ways, yet it will not guarantee any sort of protection for them. So what is the use of such a proposal? Technology is advancing daily and if children are not adept at using social media at a young age, they may not find ease in transitioning to more advanced stage when they are older. It is not difficult to track what children are doing on social media if safety is the only concern. Instead of banning them from a learning opportunity, parents need to ban themselves from overspending time on social media and interact with their children more or make opportunities where they engage in family activities. My parents let me use the internet at the age of 13 and I am an active user of social media channels. But I have never faced any threats on the internet or any social media channels so far. My parents told me strictly what to keep away from. I think more parents need to do that and stop looking at social media like an evil.
From Ms Edila Clare
Information Technology student based in Louisiana, US
