The infographic below relates to US data but I would think UK figures are about the same. Sophie is only 10 and already, most of her friends have got a facebook account and several of them have been victims of bullying or nasty comments.
This information was released by MinorMonitor, which is a free tool that enables parents to monitor their child's activities on Facebook, already used by several thousand parents. I'll definitely have a look at what it has to offer before allowing Sophie to create a facebook account, especially as it's free.
for more information : www.minormonitor.com
Other blogposts you may be interested in :
thought you had to legally be 16 to have an account? I know some of my colleagues children have accounts and many of them are under 10
ReplyDeleteNo, you have to be 13 ... but we do lessons on internet safety at school and at least half of the 11-13 year olds have accounts already, it's not checked at all.
Deletei cringe at some of the things my young cousins put on facebook
ReplyDeleteI have four children, aged 8, 7, 6 and 4 and none of them use the internet at home just now but I know they are learning about it and using it at school.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to Facebook, I am petrified of allowing my children to join it, or indeed, any social networking site. From personal experience, I have found it to be a place where people can be victimised by bullies and Facbook do not seem to be doing enough. My children take after me - they are sensitive - and I would hate them to be hurt by cyber bullies.
These so-called cyber bullies are cowards at the end of the day - as they know (or think) they can hide behind a computer screen. Unfortunately, these bullies do not know the life circumstances of their victims, and therefore victims can go through much pain if they feel they cannot cope or unable to stand up for themselves. Thoughts of suicide may enter their heads or victims may fall into a deep depression no matter what age they are - cyber bullies could cause a lot more pain than they set out and intend to do!