At What Age Do You Allow Your Kid to Have a Social Media Account?
The number of teens who use social network sites almost doubles between ages 12 and 13, according to data from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.
From a presentation titled, "Teens 2012: Truth, Trends and Myths."
Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
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About 76 percent of teen Internet users are also social media users, according to a survey of about 800 teens surveyed in 2011 by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.
Of those teen social media users, 93 percent have a Facebook account and the number of teens who use social network sites almost doubles between the ages of 12 and 13, according to the Pew data.
Most social networking sites restricts children under 13 years old from creating an account, but it’s not uncommon for children to lie about their age when signing up.
From Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter and many other social networking sites popping up on the web, Patch wants to know: At what age do you allow your children to have a social media account?
Age Requirements for Social Networking Sites
Users must be 13 years or older to create an account.
YouTube
Users must be 13 years or older to use YouTube.
Tumblr
Must be 13 years or older to create an account.
“You may use the Services only if you can form a binding contract with Twitter and are not a person barred from receiving services under the laws of the U.S. or other applicable jurisdiction,” according to Twitter’s terms of service.
Good Reads
BigMama
3:00 pm on Friday, January 18, 2013
In hindsight I wish I had NEVER allowed my teenage son on Facebook. It's turned out to be a vacuous, distracting time sink.
Melissa
8:08 pm on Friday, January 18, 2013
Its unnecessary, I wouldn't let my child have a facebook. It would cause more harm than good
Cindy
7:26 am on Saturday, January 19, 2013
I allowed my daughter 2 years ago when she was 16, on the condition that we were 'friends' and I approved of and became 'friends' all friend requests. She is in college now and I have remained 'friends' with most all of these kids, even though they may be in different states. We have created a network between the kids and parents.
Becky
10:05 am on Saturday, January 19, 2013
I created a Facebook page for my daughter the day she was born as a way to document pictures and milestones for family over seas.
QT Pie
10:05 am on Saturday, January 19, 2013
High school sounds about right; with a tutorial on what's appropriate and limits on time spent on it, because as BigMama said, it can be a vacuous wasteland.
@Cindy, whoa! I've never heard of a more far-reaching parent. There are better ways to monitor than to insist on being 'friends' with your daughter AND to friend her friend requests (and she's now in college!). Step back and trust your daughter's judgment.
Dan
6:11 am on Sunday, January 20, 2013
Right now, Facebook is like telephone when I was a teenager. Allow your teenager to use the phone, just be sure to monitor what is being said or in this case monitor the posts, tweets, images, videos, etc.
(I think our role as parents just got a lot harder.)
Chi-an Chang
1:39 pm on Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Rob Peck wrote on Facebook, " If they can read/type."