If you would ask a child from this new generation to choose from a toy and surfing the internet. That child would choose the internet, that is how popular it is today. Ever wonder what is that they love the most about the internet? Social Networking is one of the most popular sites people get engaged in when using the internet, especially children. There are more than 200 well known social networking sites available on the internet. These include, facebook, twitter, myspace, linkedin etc. The rate of people using social networks is increasing instead of decreasing. It is said that users have doubled since 2007 meaning everyone is now getting interested in social networks and more social networks are being founded. Social networking is fun for almost everyone, especially teenagers.They are connected to these networks though they are under age. These networks includes their own terms and conditions. Facebook terms and conditions states that in order to sign up you must be over the age of 13. It is said that there are 7.5 million children under 13 with accounts and they are violating the site's terms and conditions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/facebook).
PC Joy Price a children and young persons officer in Sheffied says "11-12 year olds use social networking sites in the wrong way. Children add people who they have no idea who they are and set up meetings with strangers".(BBC news 29 February 2012). Online child Exploitation Det-Snr -Sgt Lindsay Garrat warned young children were exposing themselves to risk such as sexual predators, cyber bullying and identity theft on social networking sites.
On Mxit (South African chatroom ). There had been allegations about young girls disappearing to meet up with older men they have met in this site. Mxit creator( Herman Heunis) commented on this issue on Mxit Forum (Sat Apr 12,2008 10:12pm) by stating that "this is a distressing experience for any family to go through. Mxit is available to work with the police in their investigating methods. Parents should be vigilant of their children communicating online.
The question now is, are the parents not doing enough of their job to supervise their children from using the internet or are these social networks not serious when it comes to their terms and conditions? Should they be more protective on their sites to prevent this?
This is an interesting issue and from my understanding I think parents should be more careful and know which social networks their children are on. I also think that these social networks sites should be more strict when it comes to their terms and conditions.
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