What age is appropriate for social media?

[Josy]

What age do you personally think is appropriate for social media?

I have seen parents of kids as young as 8/9 years old making up fb and twitter accounts etc for them and then give them free reign on those sites as well as the rest of the internet and I just think it's all wrong especially with the kind of things you see/read online these days..

Opinions?

[Kizzy]

Around 13

[AnnieK]

I think around 13 is an age where maturity starts to develop, but even then it needs to be monitored IMO,

[Sophiee]

when you reach being a teenager, around 13.

[Locke.]

21

[Josy]

I would say around 13 too (I think that's the minimum age for fb isn't it?) but then they still need monitored and parents need to either watch what they are doing online or make use of the parental controls that are available to them

21

:joker:

[armand.kay]

I think 9 is ok tbh, I started using msn in year 5 but back then we had a family computer in the living room so everyone could see what I was up to and I only really used msn to chat and play games with my friends....Then again internet didn't seem as messy back then as it does now so idk.

[Crimson Dynamo]

11 or so

[Me. I Am Salman]

11, secondary school age
and it doesn't need to be monitored from that point

[GypsyGoth]

13 and the parents should go to jail if the kid does something wrong online.

[arista]

What age do you personally think is appropriate for social media?

I have seen parents of kids as young as 8/9 years old making up fb and twitter accounts etc for them and then give them free reign on those sites as well as the rest of the internet and I just think it's all wrong especially with the kind of things you see/read online these days..

Opinions?


Yes the parents are wrong
as they are to young.

[Kate!]

13

[BBfanUSA]

13, monitored until at least 16, complete freedom at 18

[Z]

I was on here and other forums at the age of 13, but then I feel like the internet was a different place back then, there weren't really shock websites and stuff like porn wasn't so in your face that you could find it easily, whereas now with stuff like Tumblr and Twitter, kids end up seeing really shocking stuff whether they were looking for it or not and I think that's a bad thing... there was no Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr and even stuff like YouTube was in its infacy back in 2004 when I started browsing online... I think maybe 13 was an appropriate age to be checking out the internet unsupervised then but now maybe kids should be watched until they're a little bit older, maybe 14 or 15, I know it's not much of a difference but by then you've probably been introduced to more adult concepts in your daily life anyway so when you do start browsing the internet unsupervised you're not likely to be shocked by something unexpected.

[Ammi]

..I guess it depends on the child really and the parent's discretion with parent supervision..at school, children are encouraged to use the internet in general from around the age of 5yrs old..there are obviously blocks etc and restrictions but parents also have their children use the internet at home at that age too..I'm not sure about social media though as I have no personal experience of it....

[BigSister]

I think if they are using it at school supervised then year 5-6 but at home 13-14. I got online when I was 12-13 but like Z said the internet was a different place then. I do think 13-14 is a good age though as my cousin is that age now and hes just starting to use the internet facebook etc

[DDRickyDD]

18. Social media should be for adults only, Facebook is too dangerous for a young child.

[Livia]

16. I'd have probably said younger... until I read the thread on here which asked 'how old were you when you first watched pornography?'. Some of the replies were breath-taking.

[smeagol]

depends on the person really

facebook 9-10
twitter 15

twitter is much more in the world straight away. best not to post if your really young as one wrong word can be major trouble.

facebook is fine as can say what you like to friends -

[InOne]

I'd say 13/14. But I think it's down to the individual. Some 20 year olds and above probably act worse than a 13/14 year on facebook, twitter etc. All depends what you use it for.

[Jessica.]

I think it just depends on the maturity of the child rather than their age, you can't just suddenly give a child access to the internet and social media. The internet is something that you have to TEACH children about, If you have taught a child and trust them, then they are ready for social media, otherwise never.

[Redway]

It's of course all dependent on maturity levels but as a rule of thumb 13/4 is a decent age to start using social media.

[Apple202]

last years of primary school, so age 10/11 i'd say

i joined when i was like 11/12 in my first year of high school but its got bigger so id say year 5 or 6s using it would be pretty normal now

[james130]

Wasn't allowed to get MySpace or MSN till I was 12 (but I had a Piczo when I was 11).
That was on the family computer though and 'cause there was only the one we were limited to about 2 hours after school a night.
I'm glad for it really because I spend way too much time on it now and think kids these days don't have half the life we had because of technology. They waste so much time on electrical devices.
Got my own laptop at 13 and then used to go on everything.

[Niamh.]

hhhmmm 13ish or when they start secondary school. My daughter is almost 14, she doesn't have a FB account but I think that's kind of gone out with younger teenagers now anyway, she uses snapchat aswell