BeatBullying’s Official Response to the Facebook for Under 13s Debate
Loading ...Young people under the age of 13 are on Facebook already. Shouldn’t the question be about how we can all work together to ensure that those using it, and in particular users who are under 13, are as safe and secure as possible? And contemplate what Facebook for an 11 year old should look like. As parents, educators, charities, industry and young people, we should look to our own unique positions to develop a healthy online environment.
At Beatbullying we are certainly not saying that Facebook should become a ‘free for all'- we have first-hand experience of some of the dangers and problems faced by children and young people in a social networking environment – and we do believe that there should be a lower age limit, and that advances in age verification are needed. However, we also believe that there are a series of actions that we could all take to make the environment safer, and acknowledging that there are under 13s already on Facebook, it’s about time we did something about it. We talk with young people all of the time and we know from our website www.cybermentors.org.uk and from our work in schools, that younger and younger children are using Facebook.
If Mark Zuckerburg is considering lowering the Facebook minimum age, he should be opening a debate as to what this should look like so that it is as safe as it can be for an 11 year old.
We advocate that:
-Facebook should improve its safety centre and safety features and have clearer signposting and reporting mechanisms that are more appropriate to children and young people and designed with and for them.
-Children and young people, and in fact all Facebook users, should be encouraged to be transparent about their age and therefore should receive in response a tailored environment that is age appropriate.
-Children and young people should have default settings to private to minimise exposure and to encourage them to talk to their friends, parents, family and teachers about what kind of information they want to make available and to whom.
-When something goes wrong, children and young people should have ‘friendly’ and easy to use reporting systems where they are clear about what is happening, the timescale for action and what is going to happen next. There should be a commitment from Facebook to act within an agreed timescale once they should receive notification of incidents.
Written by Charlotte Aynsley, Beatbullying Director of Practice
Interview with Charlotte Aynsley by Riversdale Pupils
http://youtu.be/ARGiBhQlG2M
