A couple of years ago, everyone I knew was ranting and raving (mostly raving) about this awesome new site called "Facebook." I was dubious, but they all insisted that they'd reconnected with old friends there and their lives were better for having this account. It took a lot of wheedling and whining, but eventually I signed up for it.
Turns out, it's almost identical to MySpace, which I DID have an account on (I'm dating myself here).
It also did not change my life in any way.
Wait, I take that back. It did change my life -- for the worse.
This is why I will never allow my kids to have a Facebook account.
First, those games you can easily rack up hundreds of dollars playing -- like tending to your fake farm -- well, if my kids want to work, I'm happy to give them REAL chores in the REAL garden.
Then, we all know kids are mean. Kids between the ages of 13 and 18, can be especially cruel. The last thing I'd want my kids to have to learn about is cyberbullying -- having some asshole kid write mean things about my kid on his (or her) wall. Not cool.
And kids, well, they don't really think ahead. It SEEMS like a good idea to post pictures of themselves doing stupid crap, because, EVERYONE is doing it, Mom. But we all know that our kids future employer doesn't need to see our kid traipsing around Mexico, half-naked.
Most importantly, I don't want my kid to have a Facebook account because I want him to learn that "LOL" or "OMG" are not actual words. I'm not presuming I'll have a kid that wants to become a writer, and I'm not pretending that I am an actual writer, but I do expect that my kid will learn to speak, read, and write properly. Facebook? Well, it doesn't encourage that.
Do you allow your kid to have a Facebook account?
Image via Sean MacEntee/Flickr
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Comments 16
The more you try to control your children, the more they'll resent you and disobey you in the longrun.
My kids are not allowed to have any part of social media website until they are thirteen. Pretty simple. When they are thirteen they can have a myspace or facebook or whatever is popular at that time, But I want access to it until they are atleast 15. I know ALL to well of the dangers of websites like that from personal experience.
I think kids need to be made to wait until a certain age, and have restrictions. Be friends on Facebook only with people you know in person, and Mom and Dad have your password. Period. That's going to be the rule in our house. Strict? Maybe. But we all know the kind of crap that can happen on the internet. We can't keep the internet out of our kids' lives but we can place boundaries around them as they learn how to navigate it. Maybe crap will still happen. But dangit, we're going to do our best.
HA. good luck with that. I think my mother also forbade me from having a myspace, needless to say, I had a myspace and knew my way around the computer to hide it better than she did. Maybe a better approach would be allowing it, but insisting on having the password or other means to see what is going on, at least until a certain age.
Do you even have kids?
I am in the no social media untill older. I get really irratated when I see all of my little cousins and friends' children on facebook with fake birthdays. Way to allow your children to lie on purpose! We will revisit the issue when they are a little older, but I don't think I'll allow it at 13, maybe 14 of 15
I totally agree with you!! I am anti facebook, It is no more positive than negative and I have seen alot of peoples lives that would be much easier without it. Plus, its totally taking away face to face or even ear to ear communication.