 "Photo: Sara Bernabeo/The Quad News")
In February 2004, Mark Zuckerberg, then a sophomore psychology major at Harvard University, launched “The facebook,” a social-networking Web site for him and his fellow students. Within a month, over half the undergraduate population at Harvard had a profile and “The facebook” was extended to the Ivy League and other Boston universities. This evolved into over 30,000 recognized schools, colleges, universities, organizations and companies within the U.S. joining the Facebook (as it was renamed in August of 2005) domain.
Now Facebook is open to anyone over the age of 13, according to the Registration and Account Security section of its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which is quite evident by the amount of parents, and even grandparents, using Facebook.
However, it is also apparent that just because Facebook says no one under the age of 13 can create an account does not mean children under the age of 13 listen to this. How else would you explain my roommate’s 11-year-old sister having a Facebook? Or the friend request my friend received the other day from the fourth grader she had as a camper over the summer?
Regardless of the fact that Facebook tells anyone under 13 ‘no’ that doesn’t mean these kids don’t know how to get around that. I mean, how hard is it to fake a birthday? Obviously it’s easy enough.
I’m over the fact that Facebook is no longer for college and high school students. When I received the friend request from my dad and then one from my mom, I couldn’t deny that Facebook was evolving. What I don’t think I will ever get used to and what I don’t think I should even have to get used to, is the fact that kids under 13 years old are creating Facebook accounts.
Facebook also states in the Registration and Account Security section of their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities that “you will not use Facebook if you are a convicted sex offender.” However, if it’s so easy for children under 13 to get around their rule what makes it different for convicted sex offenders to get around their rule?
I know there is probably nothing that is going to change the fact that children under the age of 13 can create a Facebook account, so what needs to be done is more monitoring. Pre-teens aren’t exactly computer savvy and they don’t always know what they should and should not be posting on the Internet. Having no privacy settings on your Facebook and allowing the whole Facebook community to see your page is not a smart move for anyone, let alone a child who has barely hit puberty.
All I’m saying is if you feel the strong need to put yourself on the Web at the tender age of 11 or 12, at least have the smarts to make sure you aren’t setting yourself at risk.
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