Did you know that 43% of online sexual solicitors were identified as being adolescents (under 18), 30% were adults between the ages of 18 and 21, and 9% were adults over the age of 21. That means that almost half of the sexual solicitors could be taken off the internet if there was a mandatory age limit for social networking. What do you think? Should there be a mandatory age limit on social networking web pages such as facebook, twitter, and myspace? Are you involved in social networking yourself? Would you like social networking pages more or less if there was an age limit involved? Social networking can often be important for real world issues, such as elections. In 2008, President Obama had almost 3 times as many followers as McCain on facebook and myspace. Do you think this played a role in the elections?
So what do you think? Would you be alright with having to verify your age to show that you are allowed on social networking web sites? Or would you rather have everyone, regardless of age, be allowed on these web sites?
Jake Bock
16 comments:
I do feel that there should be an age limit on Social Networks and some type of verification of your age. At the same time I do not feel like this will deter someone from getting on these sites. When I get friend request I try and pay attention to who they are because many of my friends children want me to be there friends and some of my comments may not be appropriate for their eyes so many times I will ignore them and not respond to their request. Having a little morals when it comes to adding friends on social networks and making sure our children are safe should be a number 1 priority for everyone I know I will go back a review what my 15 year old daughter writes and who she talks to. I would have no problem with pages geared toward adult and some geared toward children. The social networks did not play a role in my voting process in 2008. I feel that parents have a moral obligation to police their own children and be aware of who and what they are talking about at all times.
Buddy Carpenter
I do believe that there should be a age limit restriction on social networking. I think that the children should have their own Facebook website, and Twitter. I think that Faccebook should ask for proof of identity or figure out a way to prove that you are of age before they allow a person to create a page. I mean i see all these children who are friends with men or women three times their age. I ignore request because of this, I feel that I shouldn't allow an child access to my page because I know I have explicit things on their. I also rarely put my kids picture as my profile picture because I seem to get request from other kids thinking I'm a child. I think this can harm a child when it comes to child predators trying to get their next victim
Makeisha Riley posted the last comment
First let me say what a good question to ask. The fact that most of the sexual solicitors are identified as being adolescents and young adults does not surprise me as social networking tends to draw the younger generations in. Right now it is so easy to set up a Facebook account all you need is an active email address, a password, what gender you are and a birth date and viola there is your page. Networking sites should have to verify that you are the age you say you are. My 11 year old set up a Facebook account without my knowledge and when I found out and looked at her "friends" I was shocked. Needless to say she is grounded from internet until she is 18 or can prove that she can be responsible about it. If you look at my Facebook profile you will not find pictures of my children. That is asking some pervert to look at them. Social networking sites would be a lot better if there were age restrictions because there would be less worry about children seeing or reading something that they shouldn't. As far as social networking and elections, I believe it does play a role. Think about it for a minute, social networking sites give so much more information than you'll see on the television or hear on the radio. Not all the information will be good but social networking sites have a way of making people change their opinion easier.
Amber Johnson-Garcia
Yes; there should be an age limit on the social network.We(the parent)are able to block television channels from bieng viewed. We should have the same control on the social network.Our biggest fear is people pretending to be who they are not. This also includes sex offenders. these people have to register with the state and they should have to register when they go on the internet and social network. This way they can be blocked. when you look on the internet; there are social networks for the children only,and these are set up by age. Kevin h
Yes. This is very important in this society especially. I think that even though websites or social networks sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. have or should have a way to detect the age of a person; it’s still easy for a child to enter those sites. I have a couple nieces who are between the ages of 9 and 11 and they get a numerous amount of people wanting to be their friend. They lied about their ages, they put pictures of themselves, and get this, they even put what school they go to. This is the prey of a child molester or murder. I remember on Facebook when people were supposed to upload their favorite cartoon character as their profile picture. Why? After it was finally over people found out that it was for a child molester.
I think that this is up to the parents to take control and not allow these children to access adult networking/websites. Everything from disciplining to rewarding your child is totally the parent’s responsibility. Not because you want to be mean or cruel to your child, but too keep them safe and teach them the rights from the wrongs. Their minds cannot fully understand everything that is going on there. They are too immature at a young age to determine what is good/bad, what is real/fake.
In the old days we didn’t have this issue because the internet wasn’t as widespread as it is today. Parents didn’t know how to deal with this before. Parents can constantly monitor what their child is doing on the internet. If the parents sets rules and the child doesn’t obey them then their computer privileges should be taken away. But how are you supposed to know? It’s great to have experience with computers. These days technology is growing at a faster rate. Parents can simply record everything your child does on the internet, watch the screen, get your passwords, almost anything you want you can get.
Lori
I am big into social networking. Most of my in-laws are from Alabama and social networking allows me to staying in touch on daily basis with them. I allow my 7 year old son to have a Facebook account for several reasons. It is teaching him computer skills, he gets to have a part in staying in touch with family, and he is learning socially. Although he has the freedom to get on-line, he is monitored 100% of the time. He does not add or accept any friendships, I do that. As he gets older, I will still insist on monitoring his and my daughter’s social accounts. Privacy is an issue, but their safety is more important. There will be many talks about respecting themselves and not putting themselves out there to get hurt. Social networking is history in the making, and regardless of trying to stop our children from it, they will become a part of it. Teaching them at a young age about the dangers of predators will stick with them. Learning what is and is not appropriate now will help them in the future on making judgment calls.
Heather Denam
I definitely think there should be an age limit on social networking sites. The age of the young children getting onto these sites now is becoming unreasonable. If there was a way to monitor their activity, including messages, then it might be okay for them to be on there. Parents don't realize all of the things their children can get into by just being a member on one of these sites. Or how much danger they can put themselves in by becoming friends with strangers.
I do think that social networking is very useful for world issues, especially elections. I think it made a big difference in the 2008 election. People don't always have time, or want to take the time, to watch the news to learn about different candidates. Almost everyone makes time for social networking now, so having it on there is a really good idea. Even the aftermath of world disasters and trying to recruit help to send over can get spread rapidly by using these websites as well. Or if a country is in need of something, it gets spread quickly online. I think it's really helpful for missing children, too. These sites can be used just like a news channel on tv, they alert the public of what is going on locally, nationally, and even world wide.
-Hannah Miller
If your flight back home gets delayed you still have a few options: you could either carpool with a friend, take a train, ride the greyhound, or even drive yourself if you have a vehicle. If Border Patrol has been statistically more effective along the Texan border than usual, then people would be more likely inclined to “Jump The Gate” in places like Arizona and California. With this being said, I’m just saying that people will always figure out a way around something. I would like to say “YES” that their should be some social network restrictions. But my second thought is that “It REALLY doesn’t matter.” There are so many “White Collar Crooks” Hackers and “Credit Card Sharks” out there that it‘s pointless. And who’s actually going to take time to check BILLIONS and TRILLIONS of identities anyway? When a soldier dies another one is born. When you finish checking one identity their’s another just waiting to be inspected. President Obama might have had 3 times as many followers (digitally), but it was only due to the (FACT OR) rumor that he had promised us OPRAH as his Vice President and running mate.
Pikachu
Alex
Honestly it wouldn’t matter because it’s easy to lie about your age. I’ve had friends who when we were 12 have MySpace accounts because they said they were 18 when they logged in. Heck, even I had one. Now a day kids can work a computer a lot better than they could when I was younger. My nephew for example set up his own Facebook when he was only 9 years old. Yeah I think an age limit would be nice, but like I said, kids today don’t care about people getting in trouble, they just want a thrill of sexual soliciting for some, and others are just curious. The only way we can solve this problem is by taking the sites off all together. The only thing is a lot of people would get mad, but like the saying goes, it only takes one person to screw it up for the rest.
There are social age limits on more adult networks. There are warnings and even email set up limits. But when someone is on a computer they can be whoever they want to be. There will always be a way to get around the age thing though. Theres not much we can do about it. Just teach our kids right from wrong, and if you know you did a good job let them grow up on their own. There will always be another place someone can get on a computer.
Adrian Enriquez
I think that age verification on some sights should be required. Many sights have you check that you are at least 18 years of age, but anyone can lie about their age for this type of verification. The fact that 43% of online sexual solicitors are identified as being adolescents shows that we have a problem and need to do something about it quickly.
I'm sure that President Obama's Facebook an Myspace presence played a great part in his election. Hurray for Social Networking.
Khattab
I believe that there should most definitely be an age limit to any social networks for many reasons. I think that the age limit should be at least thirteen years and older. If these people are too young to watch a rated PG-13 movie, then they should not be able to legally have an account on a social networking website such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. First of all, the use of profanity is quite high in social networks and people under the age of thirteen should not be exposed to reading those things. Plus, some social networking websites allow you to put up pictures of yourself on your profile. As convenient and great as this may seem, there are people out there who upload pictures of themselves that may be too inappropriate for youth under the age of thirteen to see and look through. Sadly enough, even though many social networking websites already have the age limit policy, many kids younger than thirteen lie about how old they really are, and there’s not much anyone can do about that. Though I still believe that all social networks should have an age limit policy anyway.
Ayah
I think social networks are a fun and nice thing to have. They are good to use to catch up with friends and family that you haven't seen or talked to in a long time. You can also make new friends. If there was an mandatory age limit to get on a social network, there wouldn't be that many people on them at all. It's like when Facebook was just for college students. It is a lot of college students but why not allow the whole world to access the site when you would make more money that way? The advertising options would be better since they could reach a wider audience. Social networks have a lot of bad things going on on them also, but it's much better when anyone can access them. I have a Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter account and I like them because even if I live in a different state I can still talk to my friends or family. Would I like social networking pages more or less if there was an age limit involved? Knowing that I'm 24 years old, I could get on anything I want, but if I was 15 or younger I wouldn't like it. The age limit might also get as high as "25 or older" and it would be inaccessible to me. Age limits are good when there is content that should not be viewed by minors, but parents should be responsible as well for monitoring what sites their childlren are allowed to access.
Robert McClinton
Dear all parents,
I am a teenager who is involved in many social networking sites, and I'm sure you're all sucked in to belief that everyone on the internet who is not your friend, is a pervert, a forty-year-old man who likes victimizing little children and teenage girls and boys and meeting up with th- no.
Okay I'm sorry this has little to do with the debate in motion but here;
I understand there are predators on the internet, and that somehow it is 'easy' to pretend to be a 16 year old boy on the internet, and I always make sure any new friend off the internet is not an old man behind the face of a teenager, and really you just make it really awkward for them and say, if they copy your age or location, they may not be telling the truth. Now you're probably all with gaping parent-mouths. "Internet friends?" Yeah, real teenagers. Not robots or perverted old men. people. wow. Well isn't that exciting. Real people on the internet? How exquisite! How educational. Educational? Yes, mommy-bloggers, culture education. How fantastic. You don't even need to buy a plane ticket because look who's learning a whole lot about Canada, that aren't stereotypes, or London that doesn't involve the queen. Lovely. I know a lot of you will disagree with me, but I have real teenager friends that I know, flesh and bone, as well do I have cyberfriends. I mean, if there's another teenager out there that I haven't met, they're probably on the internet.
Post a Comment