I know I need to make a few changes with my attitude. Lately I've been cranky and don't watch what I say. But right now, I just need a few minutes to stand on my soap box and say FACEBOOK IS NOT FOR LITTLE KIDS!!! All of my dang-nabit little cousins keep trying to add me. I added one...but then I quickly realized, with me adding her, I am going back on what I believe. So as of 3.5 minutes ago, I deleted her.
Facebook started as a college social networking site, partly to meet new people, partly to know where all the good parties are this weekend. It has also become a useful tool for study groups, big fundraising events and even Amber Alerts. It has become such a part of our daily lives as college students; its terrible that little kids have gotten their hands on it.
By letting young children (middle school and younger) onto this page creates a whole realm of issues including cyber bullying, cyber stalking (with weird pedophiles) and lewd behavior. it's bad enough that through the use of aim, and now text messaging, that young kids have every alternate realm to bully, backstab and lie about each other. Is it any wonder that the adolescent suicide rate has tripled since 1950?!?!?!? (It's a true fact, learned it today in Adolescent Psych).
I have two younger sisters. One has a Facebook page. I worry that she will become a cyber bully. She is a very vulnerable girl, susceptible to influence very easily. I don't want her to get mixed into the wrong things because she may think it'd be fun to talk about someone or pick on someone online.
"But being on the computer helps their typing skills." No, not really. They still type words wrong, terribly wrong. They don't form proper sentences and there is no one to watch over their shoulder to see what they're typing...so whatever they put online is public!!!
I don't even really want to get started about the pedophiles that are out there. With your 8 year old putting on make up, taking pictures and posting them online, others can see those pictures. "But I put their privacy setting on maximum." It doesn't matter. Your child is posting pictures online, it means it's public access. Do you want your child's photo printed off and in the hands of some creep who's doing Goodness knows what with it???? Uck.... What if your child adds a person that's a friend of a friend (so it says they have so many people in common) and they think, oh, well they know this many of my friends...I'll add them too. What if in the end that person is a creeper and starts Facebook chatting your daughter?? Why even compromise the situation by allowing them to have a Facebook page in the first place?
Finally, children are easily influenced by their peers. They typically like to do what others are doing. They like having role models. If they see people with photos that are inappropriate, they may be likely to follow suit. It's bad enough that children are getting mistaken for teenagers in this day and age, why grow up faster than they have to?
Make your children BE CHILDREN!!! Get them out from in front of the stupid computer screen, put them in snowpants and boots and kick their patoodies outside!!! Make them have an imagination; build a snow fort, have a snow ball fight, come up with a snow game...JUST GET THEM TO DO SOMETHING THAT KIDS DO!!! Be a parent, monitor what your kids are doing online, please don't let them get sucked into a computer screen.
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