Question of the week: “Should children younger than 13 be allowed to use Facebook?”
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Karen Anderson: “No. I think they should work on interacting in person with people before being sucked into the Internet social site vortex.”
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Dave Appling: “The question is moot. Facebook patently has no way of enforcing its ban, and this is a matter for parental judgment anyway. And hey, 11 is the new 13. So I’d say yes, but our children (and not just pre-teens!) need to learn that cyberspace is forever and keeps no secrets.”
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Bert Berson: “No. I would propose that younger children only be allowed to have accounts which are subsets of their parents. I would allow the parents to choose the specific features that their child can use. I debated answering yes if they did what I propose, but I don’t trust Facebook. I watched Zuckerman and his chief lieutenant lie through their teeth in a TV interview.”
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Chris Bryant: “Yes, but the account should be linked to a parent and be defaulted to friends only with parental approval of all friend requests. I know parents already create FB accounts for new born babies.”
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David Cohen: “Yes, they will be on there anyway.”
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Julian Mancias: “No. But they will anyway.”
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Henry Miller: “Probably not under usual circumstances. However, this is a decision to be made and enforced by parents, not the service provider. Personally, I’ve elected to opt out of Facebook. I can’t figure out who all these people are who want to be my friends, anyway.”
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Jeff Nunes: “No. As a parent it’s difficult enough protecting our children in today’s information age without giving them access to social media sites like Facebook and all the influences that are present there.”
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Lisa Pampuch: “Let’s face reality; they’re already using it. Unless Facebook can find a way to identify people who lie about their age when they join, it’s a rule that can’t be enforced.”
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Jeff Smith: “No.”
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Steve Staloch: “No, and you really have to question the judgment of a parent that would allow their child to use this mature form of social media. The Facebook proposal to ban children younger than 13 is merely PR spin and is as silly and unenforceable as prohibiting adults from consuming mega doses of soda, whether in one giant gulp or by the six pack.”
