How many of us have wondered what our 6 year old cousin does on Facebook? Or what they

do on the internet in general? And, let’s be honest, that MTS India advertisement with the new

born baby using 3G internet scared all of us, at least a little bit. So when is the optimum age to

start using the internet, and availing of all the services one can find on it?

Almost every site has a minimum age criteria. For Facebook it’s 13 years. On the other hand,

social networking sites like Twitter don’t have such restrictions. And setting up an email account

is simple and easy so that even a child can do it without much effort.

For online shopping, answering this question is relatively easy. You need a credit card to buy

things online. You are eligible to have your own credit card when you’re eighteen. So, logically,

you can only start shopping online when you’re eighteen.

But we all know this isn’t true. And the reason that, despite what we may believe, this isn’t true

is because we sometimes forget the most amazing thing that the internet provides its users:

anonymity.

No one really knows who anyone is on the internet. I could be a forty year old man from London,

eating mince pies and drinking tea. I could be a fourteen year old girl with braces and pigtails

(do children still wear pigtails?). The point is, I could be 5 or 50 years and no one, not even the

admin of a website, can truly discover my age, or any other aspect of my identity.

So is there a minimum age for shopping online? Technically, yes. On stores like Flipkart, Zovi,

you have to be above the age of eighteen if you wish to browse or use the site. But there is no

real way to make sure if the person really is eighteen. All you need is a credit card number (your

mom’s, your dad’s, your older sibling’s), and you’re set. The world could appear at your

doorstep at the click of a button.

The truth is, the only thing that could stipulate age use is the relative difficulty of using an online

site. And, typically, sites strive to make their sites as user friendly as possible. Further, in the

domain of online shopping, offer and deal websites make online shopping even easier.

There is thus no minimum age for online shopping in the practical sense. Perhaps Twitter did

the wise thing of eliminating the age criteria for opening an account. What is more important,

therefore, in regulating online use by children is parental supervision. This doesn’t mean that

parents should stop allowing their children to use the internet altogether. But it does mean that

parents should be aware of what their children are doing on the internet, the sites they are using

and what they are buying.

In short, while newborn babies may thirst for the internet like a vampire on a cleansing fast, it’s

up to us to decide what to feed it. In the case of the baby, milk may be appropriate. Before he

finds out the wonders of soy milk and low-fat lattes and jumps on the vegan train.