Caution key

I was surprised recently when I read the news about Facebook’s plan to give access to children under 13 years too, although I knew that many children have created their accounts on it giving a false age.

Many of my friends as well as cousins, younger than 13, have also created their accounts.

The good aspect of the new service is that the account will be under parents’ supervision. The children’s account will be connected to the parents’ FB account. No one would be able to send friend requests or accept it without the parents’ knowledge.

Yet I have a doubt. Will Facebook remain safe for them? I have heard many people talking about cases when strangers obtained one’s address from his account and reached the house. 

Many people have reacted to the news in positive and negative ways. A few of them have said that children should go out and play instead of sitting and chatting with friends. Facebook is no place for kids. While others felt that Facebook has taken a good decision and support it.

Later, I realised that this news shouldn’t have surprised me, because many schools have already started a similar system for students, who can create accounts on “educational sites.” Unfortunately, the students are slowly turning it into a chatting site.

Once, my cousin shared her experience. She said, “The teachers asked us to create an account on an educational site only for school purposes. Through it we could request teachers to clarify any doubt after the school hours, while teachers could put important notes on it. But many students have started chatting on these sites instead of asking doubts or clearing them.”

I suggest all children not to waste time on these networking sites.

(Published in The Gulf Today on September 27, 2014)