I think there needs to be a better understanding of the 13 age limit as an artifical construct developed in the US legislation to protect children online that hasn't functioned the way it is supposed to. I would prefer that parents or a guardian gave permission and knew what their younger children were doing and could help them understand how to be safe which can be difficult when the first thing they discover is that their child shouldn't be registered anyway. I also think the safety issues could be effectively supported by defaulting the permission settings where an under 13 year of birth was entered to a maximum privacy setting level.
I feel that they are definitely in there anyway and are lying about their age to sign up so it would be better to have a Facebook environment that is specifically designed for a younger age group. The features they are talking about to make it a safe space seem pretty desirable to me compared to them having a general Facebook account with inadequate supervision.
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Read the full article in Education Week here: Facebook Considers Expanding Access to 13 and Younger Crowd
I think there needs to be a better understanding of the 13 age limit as an artifical construct developed in the US legislation to protect children online that hasn't functioned the way it is supposed to. I would prefer that parents or a guardian gave permission and knew what their younger children were doing and could help them understand how to be safe which can be difficult when the first thing they discover is that their child shouldn't be registered anyway. I also think the safety issues could be effectively supported by defaulting the permission settings where an under 13 year of birth was entered to a maximum privacy setting level.
I feel that they are definitely in there anyway and are lying about their age to sign up so it would be better to have a Facebook environment that is specifically designed for a younger age group. The features they are talking about to make it a safe space seem pretty desirable to me compared to them having a general Facebook account with inadequate supervision.