Parents of twenty somethings, FB question

[LuvOrlando]

https://www.wsj.com/tech/facebook-a...-attorney-general-alleges-in-lawsuit-b76a5b04


Saw the FB/ Meta is being sued in New Mexico for helping kids be discoverable to pervs.

I distinctly remember that when my kids were in the 4th & 5th grades their elementary school in Pennsylvania OBLIGATED them to sign up for FB where they were required to show proof of participation in order to participate in one of their classes. Literally, they got in trouble if they didn't sign up and neither kid wanted anything to do with it but were coerced by the school. I was very active in PTA so I would have noticed it being floated by parents, it was not.

In light of the law suit I am now wondering if my kids and others were pushed into this to get some kind of grant money. Was this just my kids school, my kids teacher or was this everywhere? If I remember correctly there was a special class they taught them how to use Powerpoint and all at the same time, I am now wondering if FB used some kind of funding as bait?

Whole thing hits me as sketchy right now, back then it was odd but seemed innocent. I just wonder how many other now twenty somethings were coaxed into FB by direct school involvement, this went on around 2009-10 or so if I am remembering properly.

 

[LuvOrlando]

WTH found this, I wonder if signing up to FB was part of the program, we are not from Newark so I don't know the stipulations

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna49248995

 

[Moliphino]

4th and 5th graders aren't even old enough to sign up for Facebook (13) per their own rules.

 

[tvguy]

Is anyone under age 40 on Facebook?

 

[Moliphino]

Is anyone under age 40 on Facebook?

Under 40 yes. Probably not so much under 30. A lot of us millennials are still on it from when it first started and you needed a college email to sign up. I don't do much on there anymore, myself, but some people I'm still friends with from college do.

 

[tvguy]

Under 40 yes. Probably not so much under 30. A lot of us millennials are still on it from when it first started and you needed a college email to sign up. I don't do much on there anymore, myself, but some people I'm still friends with from college do.

I signed up because I was required to for work. About 1999. The TV station I worked for had a Facebook page and I needed my own Facebook page so I could be an administrator of our work page. Work also required me to have a Twitter account. All of a sudden friends and classmates going back to Kindergarten "found" me and sent friend requests. TV stations started Facebook pages because "that is where the younger people are". I'm 66 and my oldest Facebook friend just turned 91, my youngest is 31.

 

[jeneric997]

My kids are in their early 20s. I don't remember FB being a requirement before 13, but having email was. One kid was required to follow a teacher on Twitter- it's the only person she has ever followed. In college she had to join FB because school clubs made her. She just had to join a group and the professor can't understand why everyone hasn't joined- GenZ are really not FB people. They also don't read emails!!!

 

[soccerdad72]

I think my 20-something year old son has a FB account, but only because he needed it for some online game or two. He really isn't a social media person, though. I think he's posted like 8 times on Instagram in his life as well.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I distinctly remember that when my kids were in the 4th & 5th grades their elementary school in Pennsylvania OBLIGATED them to sign up for FB where they were required to show proof of participation in order to participate in one of their classes.

As the parent you would have wanted to know and understand that unless the child in question was 13 or older the school would have been violating the terms and conditions of FB. This means they would have had the kids lie about their age in order to sign up. How long ago was this? And why would any school sign off on this?

In 2006 they reduced the age to 13, prior to that you needed to have a college email.

 

[Moliphino]

I signed up because I was required to for work. About 1999. The TV station I worked for had a Facebook page and I needed my own Facebook page so I could be an administrator of our work page. Work also required me to have a Twitter account. All of a sudden friends and classmates going back to Kindergarten "found" me and sent friend requests. TV stations started Facebook pages because "that is where the younger people are". I'm 66 and my oldest Facebook friend just turned 91, my youngest is 31.

Facebook did not exist in 1999. It started in 2004 and was only open to college students. In the very beginning it wasn't even all colleges, there was a list.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I was never forced to have a social media account when I was in school. Like others said, you need to be 13 to make a FB account so why would a school make kids violate FB's terms of service to make an account?

I chat with my friends on FB Messenger but other than that I don't use it much. It definitely has a reputation as having an older demographic. I do enjoy reading the most insane arguments I've ever witnessed on Disney fan groups though.

 

[brockash]

https://www.wsj.com/tech/facebook-a...-attorney-general-alleges-in-lawsuit-b76a5b04


Saw the FB/ Meta is being sued in New Mexico for helping kids be discoverable to pervs.

I distinctly remember that when my kids were in the 4th & 5th grades their elementary school in Pennsylvania OBLIGATED them to sign up for FB where they were required to show proof of participation in order to participate in one of their classes. Literally, they got in trouble if they didn't sign up and neither kid wanted anything to do with it but were coerced by the school. I was very active in PTA so I would have noticed it being floated by parents, it was not.

In light of the law suit I am now wondering if my kids and others were pushed into this to get some kind of grant money. Was this just my kids school, my kids teacher or was this everywhere? If I remember correctly there was a special class they taught them how to use Powerpoint and all at the same time, I am now wondering if FB used some kind of funding as bait?

Whole thing hits me as sketchy right now, back then it was odd but seemed innocent. I just wonder how many other now twenty somethings were coaxed into FB by direct school involvement, this went on around 2009-10 or so if I am remembering properly.

I have an almost 22 year old. We're military and we moved often (7 schools total for him) and he was never asked to create a facebook account for any of his classes.

 

[jimmymc]

Is anyone under age 40 on Facebook?

I still have an account, since it was the big thing in high school. I think the only thing I use it for is the DVC Fan group now.

 

[tvguy]

Facebook did not exist in 1999. It started in 2004 and was only open to college students. In the very beginning it wasn't even all colleges, there was a list.

Sorry, meant 2009. Old age. Lost a decade. My oldest didn't even start College until 2005. He and his sister were on My Space.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I can’t read the WSJ article linked in the OP, but no, I’ve never heard of this. My DS is 26 and was never required to join Facebook (nor any other social media or email) for school. He used Facebook during his high school and college years, and since then, rarely if ever does, which seems to be the norm for his age group.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I signed up because I was required to for work. About 1999. The TV station I worked for had a Facebook page and I needed my own Facebook page so I could be an administrator of our work page. Work also required me to have a Twitter account. All of a sudden friends and classmates going back to Kindergarten "found" me and sent friend requests. TV stations started Facebook pages because "that is where the younger people are". I'm 66 and my oldest Facebook friend just turned 91, my youngest is 31.

Couldn't you have just signed into the TV station's account?

 

[leahgoogle]

My kids are 20, 16 and 13 and none of them have a FB account. We don't allow any social media (FB, Insta, Twitter, Snapchat) until our children turn 15. I would not have allowed my 4th or 5th grader sign up for FB even for school. The school board would have heard from me!

 

[tvguy]

I still have an account, since it was the big thing in high school. I think the only thing I use it for is the DVC Fan group now.

The whole groups thing is relatively new to me on Facebook. I'm in my neighborhood chit chat group, the neighborhood watch page, the Cars and Coffee page, the Mustang club, a TV professionals page and a wine page.

Couldn't you have just signed into the TV station's account?

At that time the stations Facebook administrator had to link you to the station page to give you administrator rights. Actually, I am a member of a service club and that was how I was given rights to that groups Facebook page last year.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

In light of the law suit I am now wondering if my kids and others were pushed into this to get some kind of grant money.

Probably not grant money if they were working at a reputable institution. Universities have these things called IRB's or Institutional Review Board which is an administrative body set up to oversee the proper testing of human subjects. Even if you're sending out a survey, that project must be reviewed by IRB. No IRB worth its salt would condone a social media experiment with minors who can't even sign up for the platform under it's own rules. It sounds sketchy as hell but I doubt that it's from a University. (I'm not saying that sketchy things can't happen at Universities but in this case the IRB is set up to prevent such a thing)

 

[bennifer]

My kids (29 and 14) were never asked to have a FB account for school, but I do have quite a few friends whose children have needed FB accounts for middle and/or high school. They are all in different districts, 2 are even in a different state! And these kids are all under 20.