Facebook account for a 9 year old? - Page 2

[DaughterOfKali]

I would probably go with fb age requirements.

My friends daughter is on facebook and she friended me. I'm glad she did because I noticed that she put her actual address and age on her profile! I sent her a message explaining that it isn't safe to do that.
She also friended a bunch of men that she didn't know in person.

It's just too scary, in my opinion.

[sapphire_chan]

I think it's fine to make a separate account for your child. When you create the account you are saying that as the responsible party you are over 13. Since fb allows accounts for pets I doubt they care about kids. l

letting the kid make an account? Nope.

[sunnmama]

Facebook says:

In order to be eligible to sign up for Facebook, users must be thirteen (13) years of age or older. link

They don't have a minimum age for dogs

[ecoteat]

They have to follow the no kids under 13 rule because it is a federal regulation. Google COPPA--that's what they have to go by. If FB knowingly has kids under 13 signed up, they can get in trouble. So if FB finds out that a kid is using the wrong birthdate to appear old enough, they will shut down the account to save their own butts.

I am a middle school teacher and technology coordinator and I wish there were exceptions to COPPA. I have been using Ning with my older kids who are 13 and 14, but I can't with my younger grades. Ning is a networking site where you create your own network and invite people to join. You have complete control over who has access to your network and how it is used.

[Purple*Lotus]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

I think it's fine to make a separate account for your child. When you create the account you are saying that as the responsible party you are over 13. Since fb allows accounts for pets I doubt they care about kids. l

letting the kid make an account? Nope.

I did not know you could have one for pets, that is fascinating. I learn something new every day

[zeldamomma]

Originally Posted by ecoteat

They have to follow the no kids under 13 rule because it is a federal regulation. Google COPPA--that's what they have to go by. If FB knowingly has kids under 13 signed up, they can get in trouble. So if FB finds out that a kid is using the wrong birthdate to appear old enough, they will shut down the account to save their own butts.

I am a middle school teacher and technology coordinator and I wish there were exceptions to COPPA. I have been using Ning with my older kids who are 13 and 14, but I can't with my younger grades. Ning is a networking site where you create your own network and invite people to join. You have complete control over who has access to your network and how it is used.

There are sites that comply with COPPA and allow children to create accounts (like Club Penguin and Webkinz), but it's more work for the sites, and that's why sites that are primarily geared toward adults/teens don't bother.

Have you considered setting up a truly private network with Drupal? I understand it can be done in a way that is appropriate for younger kids.

[folkgirl]

I am probably going to be pretty restrictive on this one--call me paranoid. My daughter is only 3 so I'm sure that by the time this comes up we'll all have moved on to something besides FB, anyway. Anyway, my background is that even though I was a pretty smart and worldly kid, I had a very close call with a man online when I was a teenager (this was in the 90s). About 10 years later he ended up in jail for doing the same to other kids. So it's fair to say I'm pretty gunshy about such things.

[meemee]

Originally Posted by DaughterOfKali

She also friended a bunch of men that she didn't know in person.

woah how did she do that? did they send her a friends request? or did she go looking for people?

*sigh* my dd is 7. we havent faced this question yet.

however this kind of thread brings up what i want to do with technology. where i will stand with dd in future on this.

i feel sad that i already have to talk to her about internet danger since she uses my fb to play games and chat with friends and family.

i am torn between inisisting on face to face communication rather than using technology - but i wonder if its the times. i go to a community college with kids all around me. they are texting like crazy even at 6:30 am. i can see texting once in a while, but to carry on full conversations is a little mind boggling to me. being a slow typer i think of it as typing hell.

it is a huge dilema for me because i am not against technology. i just dont know where to draw the line - when it is too much and when not.

for instance some people are impressed that we are a tv free house. we watch ocassional movies once in a while online. however we dont miss tv at all because we are online. and so in a sense i find the internet has replaced tv in our house. so saying tv free doesnt mean we are technology free. so i find i cant run from technology. my dd already wants to text. she uses my friends phone (i dont have one) and she texts to the very phone she is using. they have a conversation over the phone while sitting next to each other. its fun and cute. however.....

i see soooooo many kids wearing wrist braces.

[karne]

Originally Posted by DaughterOfKali

She also friended a bunch of men that she didn't know in person.

It's just too scary, in my opinion.

I think that this is very frightening. I can't see knowingly opening your child up to something like this.