Otis
Well-Known Member
Under-age social media use 'on the rise', says Ofcom - Under-age social media use 'on the rise'
10 is far, far too young.
10 is far, far too young.
I like and use Facebook for one thing and one thing only and that is as a reminder for birthdays.Yep......was reading that this morning......all the major social media platforms need reigning in.
There is some (mostly anecdotal) evidence that youth are slowly realising that the little worlds they inhabit on snapchat & instagram etc. are just a bullshit waste of time....
Facebook, for example, is certainly becoming a no go for any cool kids as its the social media equivalent of going dancing with yer dad.....
Or would they......?I think that places like Facebook/Snapchat/Instagram should perhaps look at some kind of 'guarantee' for usage (maybe credit card details of an adult) then perhaps parents that sign up their 9 year olds would think twice - after all they wouldn't give a 9 year old their bank card.
I think that places like Facebook/Snapchat/Instagram should perhaps look at some kind of 'guarantee' for usage (maybe credit card details of an adult) then perhaps parents that sign up their 9 year olds would think twice - after all they wouldn't give a 9 year old their bank card.
Good idea.
Its also about time the media platforms themselves were forced to take more legal responsibility for content.....facebook, youtube, twitter etc. are all global media channels by their own definitions....they have even become politicised to some degree (twitter recently removing the green verified tick thing from certain tweeters based on their questionable content as a recent example)
...I'm sure traditional media broadcasters & publishers are bound by far tighter legislation.....
Or would they......?
I have monitored my daughter's social media for the past 3 years and these sites can be dangerous places. Certainly not the place for 9 and 10 year olds for sure.
Course and abuse language, sexual talk and very provocative photos. It's a world most kids are simply not ready for. At 10 my daughter was still very naive and had one of these life like newborn dolls. It was all very innocent.
She certainly wasn't ready for comments like 'suck my dick' and suchlike, which is the sort of thing thrown around in gay abandon. Lots of talk of pulling a rape face too.
My daughter is now banned from Instagram. I deleted and she is not allowed on Facebook. She desperately wants to go on Snapchat, but having talked to the police, they say that Snapchat is the one that causes them the most trouble in terms of pedophilia and grooming etc.
Only thing she has is WhatsApp. She is now 13.
No offence, but it's not just about letting yourself down. At my daughter's primary school a pedophile contacted at least a dozen children and the police had to be called.I let my kids on farcebook at an early age. The wife puts them on private and they have to ask us to allow others access to their account. They know that if they do anything wrong just once they lose their access.
My 16 year old daughter has been on Farcebook for 9 years now. Our nearest family live nearly 200 miles away. It is a good way for them to keep in contact. She hasn't let herself down once.
They are only allowed family when young. And like I said on private. If they allow a freind on they lose their account. Only allow very close freinds as they get older. And only when we know the parents.No offence, but it's not just about letting yourself down. At my daughter's primary school a pedophile contacted at least a dozen children and the police had to be called.
It was all very innocent. Friend of a friend sort of thing.
Your daughter might have just been lucky. If she was only 7 when she was on she could have easily have been targeted.
Sounds a bit patronising, Astute, that.They are only allowed family when young. And like I said on private. If they allow a freind on they lose their account. Only allow very close freinds as they get older. And only when we know the parents.
We are very experienced parents. There is a 24 year gap from youngest to oldest. It isn't as though we have let our first child on at a young age. We know what we are doing.
Patronising?Sounds a bit patronising, Astute, that.
No-one has been a more diligent parent than me I can assure you. I put a parental control app on my daughter's phone, gave instruction that it could only be friends only on Instagram, no strangers and I would check her phone regularly just to check she was safe.
As I say, a friend of a friend. If it's your friend, that's okay, they are my friend too. That's what happened.
My daughter was not one of the children contacted by this pedophile. It was many of her friends though and I would say it was my diligence that stopped my daughter being contacted on that occasion.
Maybe you could have worded it better. It came across as if you were talking down to me, or whoever that was aimed at.Patronising?
I have 7 kids. I have an idea how to keep them safe. As I said when younger Farcebook is used to keep in touch with family....mainly brothers and sister. Their accounts are set on private. And we all know their passwords. It isn't as though we have let them have a Farcebook account and don't keep an eye.
They are taught it at school, but just a few days later they go back to ignoring the advice.They do teach internet security now. My daughter has been learning about scams online, what she can / can't tell people online etc.
She does talk to some of her friends on the playstation but that's about it, she isn't interested in social media just yet. I will be monitoring it when she does until she is older and if there are any strangers sending messages they will be asked if they want to meet in a car park and they won't be walking out of it.
A lot of her family are quite far away, but she just uses What's App video calling.
All children are different though.They are taught it at school, but just a few days later they go back to ignoring the advice.
Everyone IS different. My daughter is really, really lovely, but what she did was to set up secret accounts without my knowledge.All children are different though.
I trust my two youngest girls 100% on the net. But my youngest lad is a totally different matter.
As I said before the only friends they were allowed are when we know the parents well. They know nit to bother asking if we don't. They know if we find someone on their friends list that we didn't OK they would lose their account. This isn't talking you down. This is how we work. And as they get older they are allowed more.
The more kids you have the more you mellow out. You can't keep them in a cocoon until they are 16 or 18 and suddenly let them go. They wouldn't stand a chance. But you also can't let them have their freedom at a young age. With me they earn the trust. One mistake and they lose it.
Everyone's idea of bringing up kids is different. So far we haven't had too many problems. No.3 was a challenge. But he was kept on a tight rein. Had to work closely with his schools. And No.7 is starting to be very similar. But I am ready for it even if a lot older than with No.3 :smuggrin:
Yep, as you say, it's the kids now getting smartphones at 10 and 11 (and seemingly the vast majority of the kids getting iPhones specifically. It is the must have).It’s a hard topic to be honest...
I got Facebook when I was 11 (year 7), so 9 years ago... clearly social media was only just about to blow up, so perhaps my experience is a bit dated, and as a bloke it’s a bit different, I’m not exactly going to be getting a load of dick pics... or at least I hope not!
I never had any problems as a kid, but then again I was maybe on Facebook for an hour a week? I saw all my friends at school so why would I need to talk to them every night?
I think part of the problem now is kids are getting iPhones and androids at 10 years old or younger. And tablets and all the works, I had an old Nokia as my first phone at the age of 11, I didn’t have a smart phone until 14. So the only access I got was through my laptop, which was monitored by my parents occasionally.
However as my generation is the first to have grown up with it all, I also Have apps like Instagram and snapchat...
I think Otis is right Instagram is the worst, simply because it doesn’t matter if your account is private anybody can message you, and if young girls or boys are posting their snapchat names in their bio’s then anybody can add them still.
Snapchat I’m surprised you were told that it is the most trouble Otis... simply because you can only snapchat people that you add as a friend... clearly it is the best site for people to send naked photos, as the pictures disappear, but I don’t think it would be the most dangerous?
I think kids need to be slowly introduced to it as they get older, as has been said.
However I would also say, social media is perhaps only another perspective of the society we live in, I know girls that go to concerts and are groped on a number of occasions by young lads there, even when the girls are with parents... it’s not exactly a safe world for children online or in real life.
It’s a hard topic to be honest...
I got Facebook when I was 11 (year 7), so 9 years ago... clearly social media was only just about to blow up, so perhaps my experience is a bit dated, and as a bloke it’s a bit different, I’m not exactly going to be getting a load of dick pics... or at least I hope not!
I never had any problems as a kid, but then again I was maybe on Facebook for an hour a week? I saw all my friends at school so why would I need to talk to them every night?
I think part of the problem now is kids are getting iPhones and androids at 10 years old or younger. And tablets and all the works, I had an old Nokia as my first phone at the age of 11, I didn’t have a smart phone until 14. So the only access I got was through my laptop, which was monitored by my parents occasionally.
However as my generation is the first to have grown up with it all, I also Have apps like Instagram and snapchat...
I think Otis is right Instagram is the worst, simply because it doesn’t matter if your account is private anybody can message you, and if young girls or boys are posting their snapchat names in their bio’s then anybody can add them still.
Snapchat I’m surprised you were told that it is the most trouble Otis... simply because you can only snapchat people that you add as a friend... clearly it is the best site for people to send naked photos, as the pictures disappear, but I don’t think it would be the most dangerous?
I think kids need to be slowly introduced to it as they get older, as has been said.
However I would also say, social media is perhaps only another perspective of the society we live in, I know girls that go to concerts and are groped on a number of occasions by young lads there, even when the girls are with parents... it’s not exactly a safe world for children online or in real life.
Yep. It's a complete about turn.Saw this on the news......sad but unfortunately inevitable.....which is sad in itself.
As a kid growing up in the 1970's & 80's, I had it drummed into me not to talk to strangers..........now kids are going on live streaming sites dedicated to it......wtf?