Children & Social networking sites

OK so here's my question. What age is it acceptable for a child to have their own social network page like FB? Would love to hear peoples opinions.

I have a couple of friends who have kids aged 10 & 12 that have a page. I had a wee look through the link just out of couriosity and was shocked how public these kids pages were! You could see photos & all the wall posts. Which makes me think maybe the parents don't know the kids have a page or just don't take the time to monitor it.

if i remember rightly i was chatting with friends on msn at about 14 yrs? but my friends and i used to get up to all sorts of hijinks on the ole chat rooms as we were completely unsupervised/unmonitored...

so i think that highschool age would be about right but definitely having their activities monitored for their own safety and wellbeing!

Good topic Lisa :)

I agree with teenage years 13 + It is a parents responsibility to educate their kids on internet safety and monitor it.

The internet use should be in an public part of the house and I would put a time limit on it. I don't want them getting used to spending the entire day on it, go read a book or meet people IRL!

I heard on breakfast a review about a site 'penguin club' maybe. Sounded like they had good safety mechanisms for younger children. I think I would rather wait until they come to me and ask to join something like that I wouldn't suggest it.

I have a neice on there who I defriended when she was about 15 because I was sick of all the crap she put on there! (honestly if she farted she would have probaly put a status update on telling everyone)
I have another neice that is 11 & has a page but I've noticed she isn't on there very often & her security settings must have been set by her Mum.
To me, I think high school age but the I would want to be a friend so I could monitor what is being posted.

Edited by fattykat

Well I think they are meant to be 13, but its easy enough to figure out what date to put so you can join anyway which is a flaw but what can you do?

I know people who have made them for their babies/toddlers. Which baffles me, I dont see why, not like they can give permission for it. My father in law made one for my baby and he was told to take it down.

I think 13 is fine, as mentioned above I think I was about 11 when I started going on the internet and in chatrooms and chatting on ICQ/MSN. Didn't do me any harm.

I think if the parents are happy with their teen being on social media and are monitoring what they do/see, I don't see it as a problem. I think parents do need to be involved so no inappropriate details/photos are posted

We have kids at school, 9+ who have their own page.

The legal age is 14, as facebook is a registered advertiser and 14 is the age set (I'm assuming in America) where people have been determined to make up their own minds about the advertising they see. That is apparently (according to a constable I was talking to at work) the only reason.

I personally don't like how open children's pages are - their parents, if allowing them a FB page, need to get the privacy settings correct and be friends with them to see what's going on. Cyber bullying is all to easy for this generation. I'm assuming by the time my children want a social media site, I'll be OK with it, but with restrictions and parental control (e.g. passwords etc). I don't care if that makes me overbearing to some, it makes me a responsible parent in my eyes.

From memory you are meant to be 13 to have FB?

I've been online since I was about hmm 14/15.

Jelly wrote: I've been online since I was 11 or so, but I was sticking to neopets so that was fine haha. I actually still play on neo... Heh... I'm just that awesome

Oooh, I was hooked on that for so long

wiggly_jiggly wrote: I know people who have made them for their babies/toddlers. Which baffles me, I dont see why, not like they can give permission for it. My father in law made one for my baby and he was told to take it down.

I remember people doing that ages ago. I have to say I personally found it strange.

My two older children have fb pages. My eldest daughter has had hers for about 6 months. I set it up and set the strongest privacy settings possible. She is allowed to access it etc but I also have access to it and do check things there regularly. She has rules associated with its use and knows to show me if theres anything on there that concerns her. She must ask before friending anyone. Most of her friends have had fb pages for years and some of the crap they post makes my eyes boggle. I have actually deleted a couple because what they post is way inappropriate.

I also have a fb page for our 2 year old. Again it has strong privacy settings. The purpose of this one is to share photos, videos and milestones of our younger children with our immediate family who live in Australia. This one has a very select friends list.

My eldest daughter is one of only three in her class who do not own a cell phone. I've always said that she can have one when she is 16 and can afford to pay for it herself. In saying that she is getting one for her 13th birthday on Monday. The reason for this is we are moving to Melbourne in January and I want her to have a way of contacting me when we're not together. She is terrified she will get lost.