Facebook doesn’t allow users under the age of 13, so then, why are nearly 38% of the minors on Facebook under 13-years of age?
Somebody’s lying, and it’s not just the kids.
Many believe that it’s Facebook’s policy that requires users to be at least 13.
Not exactly.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recently made his feelings pretty clear — Not only does he believe pre-teens belong on Facebook, he plans to fight to change the laws intended to keep them off the site.
The reason it’s against Facebook’s policy for minor’s under the age of 13 to join Facebook is because of COPPA. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act requires that a user must be at least 13 years old to sign up for a website that collects personal information.
Zukerberg had this to say about COPPA:
My philosophy is that for education you need to start at a really, really young age.
Does Mark Zukerberg really have the best interest of our children in mind?
According to The American Academy of Pediatrics:
Increasingly, advertisers are targeting younger and younger children in an effort to establish “brand-name preference” at as early an age as possible. This targeting occurs because advertising is a $250 billion/year industry with 900,000 brands to sell, and children and adolescents are attractive consumers: teenagers spend $155 billion/year, children younger than 12 years spend another $25 billion, and both groups influence perhaps another $200 billion of their parents’ spending per year.
Yup.
Mark Zukerberg is right.
… for education you need to start at a really, really young age.
We shouldn’t be surprised, though.
Zukerberg didn’t exactly build Facebook for the betterment of society nor did he do it “for the kids.”
Although the law says, “No” to children under age 13, I know a number of parents who have decided to aid their children in breaking Facebook’s policy and the law.
Throwing caution, and COPPA, to the wind?
What lessons are we teaching our children?
Ironically enough, the same parents that expect their young minor children to be responsible online and follow their parents rules, are some of the same parents who broke the law to allow their kids on Facebook in the first place.
Despite Zuckerberg’s objections to COPPA, Facebook closes 20,000 underage user accounts per day.
If Facebook made it a higher priority, that number would probably be higher, since almost 40% of the minors that currently use Facebook are under age 13.
Zuckerberg has slightly changed his stance saying:
We’re doing a lot of things right now … but we’re not trying to work on the ability for people under 13 to sign up.
In the future, it makes sense to explore that. We would need to try to figure out a lot of ways to make sure they are safe. That’s extremely important. That’s not on the top of the list for things for us to figure out right now.
He still would like to see younger kids on Facebook, but at least he says he wants to keep them safe.
In the meantime, however, what can we do to make sure kids under thirteen stay off of Facebook?
Facebook actually has a report form. This is how Facebook closes those 20,000 underage user accounts per day.
Have you ever reported an underage user?
Would you report an underage user?
Do you let your kids under 13 on Facebook? Why?
[via The Consumerist, Pediatrics & The Telegraph | Images via Andrew Feinberg, James Emery & Mykl Roventine]
I wouldn’t allow my daughters to be on Facebook till after high school. As long as they are under my roof, no Facebook or Twitter.
Children should be outdoors doing productive things. Call your friends!
Facebook I understand twitter not so much
Twitter Nation forgives you
Twitter is just another place to spew nonsenical sentences and waste your time.
Twitter as a personal place just creates an online persona, something I feel is against God’s design.
Now do NOT get me wrong, Twitter is a great way to meet folks who share the same ideas etc, BUT being in community with your neighbors is what I believe His design to be.
Twitter is something I try NOT to use as a personal device such as I ate here or I am doing this with my kids etc.
I use it to promote my work etc.
My two cents
Cha-ching! Two cents accepted!
Twitter, Facebook, This blog, the comments section, are all the same. You on the internet. It’s just like everything else. It comes down to your heart. Anyone can take anything and make it bad. Teach your kids right and let them do what they want. If they disobey, teach and punish them with grace. This is what God does with us.
Yes and no.
Do you leave your 7-year old at the mall alone?
No. I wouldn’t let them on the internet alone at that age either.
Good.
I agree. Moving past the “yes” or “no” and going straight for the, “instead of”. I like it.
Great parenting Matt! It requires a certain level of maturity to be able to balance a secondary digital life with your actual one. Kids should be focused on real world interaction first and foremost.
Amen!
My 5 year old daughter actually has a Facebook account (although I’m closing it today as a result of reading this post). We gave it to her for her 3rd birthday because she had been asking for one for several months, after hearing us talk about it a lot.
That being said, she actually doesn’t use it, and never has. We post pictures of her from time to time for friends and family, and if we hear her say something funny, we put that as her status. So the way we used it, it was completely safe for her.
But I didn’t know it was against the law. I thought we were just breaking some arbitrary Facebook rule. I’m fine with breaking silly rules, but not laws.
I always thought it was Facebook’s rule, too, but it isn’t. Facebook would allow it if they could, it’s COPPA that prevents it.
I don’t think there’s any good reason for children under 13 years old to have a Facebook account, especially after seeing the profiles and type of use for kids that age. From a purely technological standpoint, they’re more vulnerable to viruses since one of the biggest activities for kids that age is using the games on the site. Secondly, it open them up to pornographic and predatory profiles of other users. Finally, it keeps them from interacting from friends and family in a meaningful way by encouraging them to sit in front of the computer to socialize.
I think for adults the real benefit is being able to connect with people who are difficult to interact with in person on a regular basis (like college buddies, family members who live far away, and friends you engage with via the web). For kids, however, their world is much smaller – and it’s good that way for the time being.
Very true.
My understanding of COPPA is not that no one under 13 can sign-up for any online account, but that it requires parental consent.
Still, I’m in the camp that its not a good idea for kids to have a FB anyways. I wonder if my 6 month old will even want one when she is old enough to have one – might it become an “old-person” thing in her generation?
You are correct.
Or she will say: Dad, tell us about that thing you used to have called, “Facebook” – LOL!
They’ll definitely be a form of Facebook around when you’re kid is grown up – except it’ll probably involve some sort of chip you have to implant in your body. The way to friend people will be through getting in close proximity of each other’s LifeChip … LOL!
I think people who ban their kids from social media are doing them the greatest disservice ever. The first poster’s argument, that it isn’t “productive” and therefore they should be outside “calling their friends” to do “productive things”….. I mean come on.
Social Networking will become, if it has not already become, a cornerstone in shaping a child’s social development. Did Zuckerberg set out to become a millionaire as the tone of this article suggests? Does he want kids on the site for more ad revenue? Not even close. Facebook wasn’t incredibly profitable until very recently, when COO Sheryl Sandberg joined the company.
So why do parents keep their kids off of facebook? One simple reason: they didn’t have it when they were at a young age. As with television, rock and roll, color television, the 8-track, televisions with more than 5 channels… they will “ruin children”. This mentality isn’t new (see last sentence). It’s the fear of that which we do not ourselves know, that which we did not ourselves experience, and naivety. Parents: wake up. Social media isn’t going away. Do you want to give your kids the tools to navigate it, because they will at some point. Or do you want to deprive them of something critical to their integration into the world, in jobs, in interacting with friends, and possibly by the time they’re in college, it could have deep integration into schools.
Perhaps you’re right. You’ve made a lot of good points, but until Federal law changes, Facebook’s hands are tied. No one under 13 years of age is allowed.
So, do you cheat the system and lie about your kids age to let them on to Facebook?
And there’s the million dollar question. Personally, I can’t justify it. I should clarify that my previous post was purely philosophical in nature, because in reality, you’re absolutely right. COPPA is law, and there’s no way around it (unless Facebook designed it’s services to allow kids to have an account without giving away any identifiable information… Ha… Haha. Not happening.) So kids over 13? I think yes, with parent involvement being a key component of the social media experience. Kids under 13? Nope. Honestly, it isn’t worth it. At the rate underage accounts are deleted, it just sounds like a recipe for frustration and disappointment for a 10 year old who doesn’t give a hoot about COPPA.
Agreed. Agreed. Oh, and … AGREED!
I wouldn’t report an underage user to Facebook. I would check that the child had a parent as a ‘friend’ and let the parent know if I thought they didn’t already. I allowed my middle schoolers to use facbook before they were 13 … I would rather start them using it while they are still interested in having lots of relatives and other approved adult role models as ‘friends.’ Plus, they use it to keep in touch with cousins overseas.
This sounds like the argument made about underage drinking. It IS against the law, after all. I think there should be something setup to allow underage users as you’ve described. Perhaps the law is a bit erroneous.