Should Your 14 Year Old Be On Facebook?

         


               

True story, here’s how it went down…
I’m hanging out with a friend, a mom who has a 14 year old daughter.
The following conversation unfolds:

Daughter: Hey mom, can I have a Facebook account, all my friends are on it and I’m the only one who’s not.

Mom: No

Daughter: Pleeeeease, I’m the only kid who’s not on it.

Mom: No

Daughter: That’s so unfair, why can’t I have one?

Mom: I don’t want everything about you posted online for everyone to see, where all kinds of wackos can find you. And, especially, if you put up pictures, which I know all your friends do. I don’t want strangers knowing what you look like, where you live or really anything about you.

Daughter: But, nobody can see my profile unless I friend them, so it’s like totally private. Plus, I’ll even friend you, so you can see everything I’m doing.

Mom & Daughter: Jonathan…PLEEEZ, you’re a cyber dork, you gotta help us.

Jonathan (to daughter): Let me ask you a question, do your friends talk about you and what they do with you on their Facebook pages?

Daughter: Yes, every day.

Jonathan: And, do they post pictures of them and you on their Facebook pages?

Daughter: Yes, all over the place!

Jonathan: So, you’re actually already on Facebook, as you said, all over the place, but since you don’t have an account, you have no way to easily monitor what’s happening with your image and what people are saying about you, except when you’re at your friend’s houses and they’re on Facebook..with you?

Daughter: Yup!

Mom: Hmmm…

This is a tough one.
We all want our kids to be safe. And, it’s a new world where the rules are changing really, really fast.

So, what’s the answer here?
Let’s discuss…

With Regards:
Aashish Mittal