Kids and social media

[Mizzoufan]

Another thread got me thinking. Do your children under 13 have social media account. FB twitter etc.

 

[luvsJack]

I don't have a child under 13 now but she had FB when she was 11 or 12. She has gotten the others: Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat as they have become popular. I think she was over 13 when she got them though.

 

[jdb in AZ]

My grandson signed up with Facebook at age 10. He pretended to be 14. It's not like the kids need a notarized proof of age or parental permission to sign up.

FWIW, we were "friends" with him on Facebook and when he posted some really obnoxious stuff all.the.time (talking dirty like a lot of teen boys do, trying to prove they're "cool.") We unfriended him. He kept asking us to be his friends again and we used it as a teaching moment by asking him to clean up his stupid posts, then we would "friend" him again. (We could still check his posts when we wanted to see what he was up to, but it wasn't in our "feed.") Eventually he outgrew the garbage and we're "friends" again. Now he's almost 17 and rarely posts. It helps that he has a job now and has better things to do than waste so much time on Facebook.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I don't think I will. I can't say for sure since I haven't crossed that bridge yet. I think 13 is a good age to use it as a "Rite of Passage" type thing.

 

[htmom]

My oldest signed up for facebook the day he turned thirteen. Lol. But I am the WiFi password holder in the house. And he doesn't have unlimited access to it. He doesn't have a cell phone either though. (We have a home tracphone for anytime the kids go places without us)

 

[soccerdad72]

My older son had an Instagram account a little bit before he turned 13, yes. He got it right around the same time he got his cell phone

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I voted yes, but it was only Facebook, and I think he was 12 at the time.

 

[sam_gordon]

DD had a facebook account when she was 12. She picked up the others in the last couple years (she's now 16). 11yo & 9yo don't have online accounts (unless you count their Xbox or Ipod logins).

 

[mamamary]

My kids are older now but I believe they were both under 13 when they got facebook. I was friends with them so I could see what was going on and at the time they were mostly just friends with family members until they got a little older. DS really isn't into any social media now surprisingly but DD is. She uses instagram, snapchat but not twitter. She is 16 now though. Her friends really haven't used facebook in prob. two years now.

 

[smitch425]

My kids are 10 and 12 and have had instagram accounts for over a year. Their accounts are private, and we've had no issues. If one of their friends uses inappropriate language, they remove them. DD will be getting a FB page when she turns 13 in December.

 

[Dawnlight]

Only my oldest, 17, has an account- Facebook. He's also the only one with a cellphone, and it's a very basic pay-as-you go (tracfone).

My other kids ages 15, 13, 11, 9, and 9 do not. None of them have mentioned wanting them at all, and they've even commented on how silly most of them are.

 

[mjkacmom]

All if my kids are on social media (dd14 and dd11 are doing a social media challenge with friends for Lent - they're going without). Teens don't use facebook anymore, unless it's a school group. They all have iPhones (most kids here get them by 6th grade).

 

[kimblebee]

My daughter was 12 when she got Facebook and Instagram. The condition was that I got to know the passwords and that she had to ask before she accepted a friend request or sent one. I also logged onto the accounts and checked what was going on.

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm surprised at the number of people saying their kids have Facebook. None of the kids here use that, just their old parents.

We struggled with this. But the ones without social media really seem to be sidelined in the circles of friends. They realigned our schools this year, and my daughter started the year only knowing a handful of kids out of more than 600 attending there. I think social media really was key in helping her connect and make new friends quickly.

 

[smitch425]

DD wants FB to keep up with our family, not her friends. Many of our younger (30 & under) family members are on Instagram, so she is learning about social media with Instagram first. FB is more complicated than instagram, thus the reason we are waiting until she is 13.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I'm surprised at the number of people saying their kids have Facebook. None of the kids here use that, just their old parents.

Youre surprised? Im actually surprised at the number of kids who DO NOT have facebook. Maybe its a regional thing? But kids in my DS class have had it since they were about 11 or so. My DS has had his since 11-ish too. But we had an agreement that I would have his password and monitor what he does. He's 15 now and rarely goes on facebook anymore.

 

[bookgirl]

Another thread got me thinking. Do your children under 13 have social media account. FB twitter etc.

My nephews did and it was monitored. They are almost 16 now so we are no longer on most of their social media. (and the ones we are on they don't post anything on, because kids aren't dumb. they make sure to have a parent account and the account they use for their friends)

Of course neither of my nephews would be caught dead on FB or twitter anymore because FB/twitter is for old people. No joke. Old people translating to anyone over 25 for them.

They use things like instagram, kik, and snapshot. (they don't know I'm on one of their instagrams because I have a false name and they have hundreds of friends on those, because yeah I'm that aunt but I'm pretty sure they each have kik accounts since they can't be traced by their parents like their text accounts can) I used to be on one of the kik accounts but they have those only to their friends and never okay someone who is not in the inner circle.

 

[mom2rtk]

Youre surprised? Im actually surprised at the number of kids who DO NOT have facebook. Maybe its a regional thing? But kids in my DS class have had it since they were about 11 or so. My DS has had his since 11-ish too. But we had an agreement that I would have his password and monitor what he does. He's 15 now and rarely goes on facebook anymore.

Not surprised at them having social media, just FB in particular.

And maybe it is a regional thing. My college age boys have no social media, so we are fairly new to this with our daughter. But none of her friends use FB.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

I know for Facebook, the required age is 13. The only way for them to have an account younger than that is to lie about their age. I just think that sets a terrible example when you're trying to talk to them about Internet safety! If the rule is 13, then it's 13. Sorry. I don't care if "everybody else does". How do you teach them about honesty and not keeping secrets on one hand and tell them it's okay to lie on the other?

Oldest DS got FB when he was 13. Younger one can if he wants once he's 13. Older is now 14 and does use Instagram and Snapchat a bit, but really isn't all that interested in any of it.

 

[Divah]

No and my daughter's never did either. My eldest daughter had a Facebook when she was 17 she shut it down on her own saying it was to much drama. She had never had another. Both my over 18 dd have pintrest and I think one uses vine. My other refuses to use it after applying to college they wanted her Facebook page. A girl older than her who had been accepted to JH nursing before my DD said they check social media for behavior. Still even after being accepted she has not used FB. She said she has no need or time for it.

My husband uses FB because he is ranking in the Hogs and Hero's foundation and maintains the site for the chapter locally. Other than that, text and phone calls ... and Skype (family over seas) is what we use. I do have a Twitter acct ..a lot of sites want you to use Facebook or Twitter to log in with so Twitter was easier.

I guess I am still in the stone age.