Article Blog # 11

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/02/kids.social.networks/index.html

Support: http://www.geekwithlaptop.com/online-social-networking-is-it-bad-for-kids

The article depicts a popular topic that may or may not have a truly correct answer. The article talks about social networking and kids, and how young is too young for a kid to be on popular social networking sites such as Facebook, and MySpace. It is difficult for the social networking sites to monitor whether or not a kid meets the required minimum age limit of 13 because so many kids are pretending to be older than they really are. One argument for why young children should be on these networking sites is that, “Some scientists worry that pre-adolescent use of the sites, which some therapists have linked to Internet addiction among adults, could be damaging to children's relationships and brains” (cnn.com). However, many people do not think that this social networking craze is as bad as some parents make it out to be, and that most of these young kids tend to do the same things that they would in their offline lives. A huge concern for parents is that, “these technologies are infantilizing the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment” (cnn.com). Many parents do believe that this we must accept the fact that this is a new time and that we just need to get over the fear, and try to monitor our children the best we can.

I think that this article really addresses a popular issue that many parents are aware of, but just do not know how to handle. I personally have been using social networking sites ever since I was 12 years old, now I am 20 and continue to go on my networking sites regularly. I do not think that these social networking sites were such a bad thing, but I do think that of parents do not monitor their kids, it could get bad. We have to face the fact that there is no running away from these networking sites, and that eventually your children will be on sites similar to Facebook, or MySpace. I believe that it just depends on how you prepare your child, and it is up to you to educate them on why not to put up certain information on their profile pages. According to a psychiatrist at West London Mental Hospital, “kids are likely to find the real world boring and will look to more extreme types of behavior to get a kick out of life and that in the virtual world things happen much faster, relationships are begun and ended with the click of a mouse and you can reinvent yourself in your online profile whenever you want to” (geekwithlaptop.com). Kids are always going to find ways to get around things, and it is up to us as adults to help guide them through this process of online social networking while giving them to opportunity to practice it under a controlled environment.