The dangers of Facebook for kids far outweighs the positives for this mommy. This is one area that I feel strongly about. I have been called over protective among other names since I refuse to comply with the Facebook norm. But I am not budging on this family rule.
My husband and I do not allow our children to have a Facebook account until their seventeenth birthday. We feel that once they turn 17 and are responsible, we can monitor their Facebook etiquette for at least a year before they leave the house.
However, they must comply with our Internet Safety Rules.
Facebook requires that a person must be 13 before they can create an account. However, a consumer report that I found online states 7.5 million are under the age of 13.
Really?
Folks if you allow your child under the age of 13 to have a Facebook account, you are allowing them to point-blank lie to the world. What type of message is this teaching our children?
There is too much at stake for me to allow my children on Facebook at this age. I certainly do not see any Facebook police out there either. Also, research suggested that since most parents are on Facebook now, teen children secretly create another account.
Imagine that….Parents are making Facebook not FUN anymore for adolescence.
Here are the 9 Dangers of Facebook for Kids
- Real Threats
- Hate Crimes
- Sharing too much Information – my children are notorious for this one
- Cyber Bullying
- Internet Addiction
- Pornography
- Online Predators
- Affect Children’s Future
- Identity Theft
The dangers listed above are real and happen daily on Facebook. Children are often coerced into things that they would not necessarily take part in if faced with it in the real world. The online environment makes it seem surreal and makes it very easy for them to participate in.
Don’t think for a minute that this is a concern to Facebook, if it was a true concern, they would have the profile default set to private and not public.
Each family must make their own decision about Facebook. Please talk to you children about Internet Safety with this FREE printable.
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Do you agree or disagree with the dangers of Facebook for kids? What age do you allow your children to go on Facebook?
I agree with you. I don’t even have a Facebook account for myself anymore. It’s not just about individuals sharing too much information, FB collects too much information as well. I had a friend who opened FB accounts for each of her children when they were born so that she could tag them in pictures she posted of them. I cannot think of anything nice to say about that situation.
Excellent points, and I’ll take them a step further. Are there adults out there that could fall victim to your 9 reasons as well? You bet. I find very little good about Facebook at all, for adults or children, except as occasionally a source of information.
After being on Facebook for 3 or 4 months and seeing all the gossip and hurt being spread, my husband and I agreed very quickly that I would deactivate it and talked to my kids about it. My husband and children do not FB. I posted scripture and encouragement and quickly realized that I was the “oddball”. When my children seen for themselves the uncalled-for words being spread, they have no desire to even have a FB. I didn’t have a lot of time to FB due to my many responsibilities as wife, mother and business owner and I was being slammed for not ‘devoting’ more time to it. When I posted that I would be shutting it off but if anyone wanted to contact me, to just use my email address directly. I was slammed for that as well. Even after being off FB all this time, people tell me that others say untrue things about me on FB. It’s been about 3 years now since I shut it off and I have never once regretted it. I know many kids under 13 that have FB accounts, use none-to-very-little privacy settings and that really bothers me. FB could be a good thing if used wisely but like Thumper’s mother says from the movie, “Bambi”, ‘If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all’.
We will be mocked no matter what. You need to do what’s best for your family.
Thank you for this post. It is nice to see that there are people out there who get it!! No one in my immediate family (me, hubby or kiddos) has a Facebook account. What little I know of Facebook does not impress me. It seems like a big time waster!! I know there are some benefits (keeping in touch with people, etc) but most of what I hear about Facebook causes more problems than produces benefits!! Keeping guarding your kids – the payoff is worth it!
The dangers of Facebook are the dangers of the internet.
As for lying to the world, I entered my birthday. I take responsibility for the accounts. I allow my 7 and 9 year olds to use them.
I see no more danger in supervised structured use of Facebook than any other internet use. Both boys have 9 friends… each other, Mom, Dad, Grandma, two Aunts, and two family friends. Everyone is unfollowed. My boys don’t see anything anyone posts unless they are tagged or it is posted on their wall.
99% of what they do on Facebook is simply games.
So I really do not see a big issue with this. They also have account names which are nicknames. Furthering a bit more privacy.
No big deal for us.
And I also enjoy being able to link cool science topics on YouTube and Ted Talks I want them to watch. Definite benefit for us.
I have no problem with a monitored, parent friended facebook for 13+. Anyone under does NOT need a FB for any reason.
I use it to keep in touch with a few friends who don’t have phones, or people I don’t contact very often.
For all of the dangers, everything has it’s negatives. If you don’t trust your 16 year old on facebook, you’re parenting wrong, in my opinion.
I use facebook for keeping up with blogs and news. If I get tired of a friend’s gossipy posts or whatever, unfollow. My account is heavily privated.
Facebook is like the internet. It can be used for good, it can be used for bad. Just like everything in life. I don’t believe in sheltering – I believe in teaching discernment. Because once a kid reaches 18 and leaves, if the use facebook and do everything you DIDN’T (where sheltering) want them to do, you didn’t teach them anything. Just my opinion.
I’m surprised very many kids are interested in facebook anymore! The most active facebook user group is adults over 40. Heck, I’m in my 20’s and I don’t even have facebook. I left long ago for Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.
I grew up across the street from a family who decided that until their children were 17 they weren’t going to do certain things (like social media and dating). It was a hard fast rule for the same reasons you list above, once they were 17 they would be mature enough to handle these sorts of things on their own. HOWEVER, when the turned 17 they didn’t have life experiences they had learned along the way and had a really hard time. Not that I disagree with you, but it is important to let children learn and make mistakes. I know teen sisters who have to share a Facebook account so they keep each other accountable. Another whose mother can always sign in and if she were to change her password, the computer and phone are automatically taken away. Each family is individual, but there are other ways available to protect and train your children as well as waiting until they are older.
I’m thankful my parents took the time to explain things to me and gave me a little space to make decisions and mistakes. When I could handle those decisions okay, they gave me more responsibility. Facebook wasn’t really popular yet when I was a teen, but I was in chat rooms all the time. My mom would check on me, but she also trusted me to make wise decisions based on their guidance and training.
I am 65. I was on facebook for a time but decided it wasn’t for me. I got all sorts of statements from family that I would not be able to be in contact because I wasn’t on facebook (What happened to emails and snail mail?) In fact I make my own stationary and write on that and send it snail mail. Sure they get it faster on facebook but I know that family gets enjoyment when they go to the mail and see a letter from me. When I write I also add a couple extra pieces of stationary that I made along with my letter. I know I would enjoy getting letters from family that I can keep a read again. Facebook has so much garbage on it that I deactivated my account and have never looked back.