Facebook is launching Messenger for Kids targeting 6 – 12 year olds. Really? I don’t care how safe you say it is, kids that age don’t need help creating an addiction. The stats on suicide for children 10-14 and 15-19 ought to open some eyes.
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Links to today’s stories:
The Survey Results and Interview
https://goo.gl/c4CppA
Experts Say Shut Down Messenger Kids
https://goo.gl/shci5T
Giving a Kid a Smartphone is Like Giving Them a Gram of Cocaine
https://goo.gl/aaKM7f
Cold there?
Mental stability goes down
Unless you consider 20F warm….
Hi kitty!! š
Such a show stealer…
Good report. Itās sad and I agree itās too early. But I know many parents that start their kids on the computer early thinking itās a good thing. I think there has to be boundaries but hand held devices are used as entertainment for their kids.
Great stuff brother!
Is COPPA still around?
Yes…apparently without enough teeth to stop this travesty, unless someone brings an action. I’m sure the FB lawyers worded it to avoid legal issues. But that doesn’t make it safe or moral…
My daughter didn’t have a FB account until she was 14 .. I worked in corporate privacy and compliance and told her every time it was brought up I couldn’t violate COPPA. Worst mom ever.. but I see a huge difference in her 5 years later compared to her peers
I let my kid be on the Internet and I let her have her own device. Sheās had a device since she was 1. I swear Iām not a bad parent.
I also have no idea how she would ever collectively have more than an hour or two to herself to use it though between homework, sports, dance, and family time. So I guess we in essence trained her to only use tech in doses. Because even on weekends where she could have free reign, I often find her with her nose in a book or playing with dolls instead. I never pushed her one way or the other with her āunstructuredā play time. I know at almost 9 yrs old that these days of playing with dolls are numbered.
Thereās a level of parenting that has to happen in this day and age with tech that is unseen. Just like some dog owners who donāt regularly work with their dogs to build positive behaviors, I believe you can work on your kids (esp while they are young) to build good habits. Itās work though – so Iām okay with parents skipping the effort altogether by just not even allowing access. But please donāt condemn those of us that are doing it responsibly.
Not being on Facebook is a good idea. I wonāt let her generate any content for consumption (no likes, no disappointment or living for subscriber counts). She can play games and text friends (she can use iMessage where there is WiFi). And she hands me her phone before bed every night since she was a baby. So that is the expectation as she goes into teens as well. I have her passcodes and passwords so I can check all her logs and history.
Annie Murphy – you are obviously the exception and not the rule. And you hit it spot on – there does need to be a level of parenting – not capitulation. And there was no condemnation for responsible parents – quite the opposite with my interview of Bill Guyther and Kylie Guyther. I’m struggling to find those success stories because they don’t put those in the paper.
The right level of parenting should have discovered both the child being bullied and the one doing the bullying. And where are the other kids who see this going on and never say anything about it? Teaching responsibility from the start would go a long way to preventing things like this.
Total agreement with you š So…how about doing an interview with me about that?
Morgan Wright I would love to. Although Iād hesitate to say we are a āsuccess storyā considering Iāve only been parenting since 2009. š But I would consider myself and my sisters success stories of the 80ās (can you watch TV?) and 90ās (AOL chat rooms). Which is what has informed my parenting somewhat. I was allowed to watch as much TV as I wanted and talked on the phone (A LOT). My sister is 8 years younger than me and had internet access since she was 10. She was always on AOL instant messenger (and on the phone A LOT too). She had her own computer in her room throughout high school. We both graduated university cum laude (she actually graduated sum cum laude, and myself magna) – I graduated university at age 19 and she graduated at 20. I would consider us both balanced/successful adults. I attribute my mom and dad for setting expectations early and enforcing them.
Letās do it.
Iāll set it up!!