Kids and Technology (Facebook)

Author:  Sylwia  Presley,  May  2011  

What do we think?

US stats

• Of  the  20  million  minors  who  ac<vely  used  Facebook  in  the  past  year,  7.5  million—or  more  than  one-­‐third—were  younger  than  13  and  not  supposed  to  be  able  to  use  the  site.  

• Among  young  users,  more  than  5  million  were  10  and  under,  and  their  accounts  were  largely  unsupervised  by  their  parents.  • One  million  children  were  harassed,  threatened,  or  subjected  to  other  forms  of  cyberbullying  on  the  site  in  the  past  year.

EU stats

• Social  networking  sites  (SNS)  are  popular  among  European  children:  38%  of  9-­‐12  year  olds  and  77%  of  13-­‐16  year  olds  have  a  profile.  Facebook  is  used  by  one  third  of  9-­‐16  year  old  internet  users.  

•One  in  five  9-­‐12  year  olds  have  a  Facebook  profile,  rising  to  over  4  in  10  in  some  countries.    •Age  restric<ons  are  only  par<ally  effec<ve,  although  there  are  many  differences  by  country  and  SNS.    

•Younger  children  are  more  likely  than  older  to  have  their  profile  ‘public’.  A  quarter  of  9-­‐12  year  old  SNS  users  have  their  profile  ‘set  to  public’.    •Parental  rules  for  SNS  use,  when  applied,  are  partly  effec<ve,  especially  for  younger  children.    

•One  fiZh  of  children  whose  profile  is  public  display  their  address  and/or  phone  number,  twice  as  many  as  for  those  with  private  profiles.    •The  features  designed  to  protect  children  from  other  users  if  needed  are  not  easily  understood,  by  many  younger.  and  some  older  children.

What do we do?

Ask the authorities to help?

Become their friends?

Failbook.com

Educate ourselves?

Embrace the technology?

Guide them, do it WITH them…listen!

Learn from them!

Interesting links

Few good reads: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/Home.aspx http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/consumer-reports-7-5-million-facebook-users-are-under-minimum-age/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/16/california-bill-to-give-parents-access-to-kids-facebook-pages/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42957561/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/more-parents-help-kids-cheat-facebook-age-rules/ http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2011/june/electronics-computers/state-of-the-net/facebook-concerns/ http://mashable.com/2010/05/03/facebook-parents/ http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/03/23/facebook.underage.users/index.html http://www.connectsafely.org/pdfs/fbparents.pdf http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hPZ44LHJwc http://www.adorasvitak.com/

Contact

If you have any comments please contact:

Sylwia Presley www.nfpvoice.com E-mail: sylwiapresley@nfpvoice.com Mobile: 07850 138 178 Twitter: presleysylwia or nfpvoice Skype: sylwia.presley