Social Networks: The New Club for Lying About Your Age?

“Crystal’s Soapbox,” published each Thursday, is a column by conservative Texas mom Crystal Arcand who loves to rant about issues that relate to her kids….and yours.

Kids love to connect, and this generation of kids is especially fond of technological connection. Networks for kids like Disney’s Club Penguin, WebKinz, Whyville, and KidSwirl are cropping up almost daily. A survey from Pew Internet & American Life Project shows that in early 2007 55% of online American teens ages 12-17 used social networks. By December 2008, that percentage had gone up to 65%. Those numbers don’t sound surprising, given that our children start using computers as toddlers. What’s surprising is their ages: 12-17. Many social networking sites have a minimum age of 13 for users. Yet, these children have profiles and use them on a daily basis. How did they get profiles? Their parents let them lie about their ages, or flat out lied for them and set up the profiles.

Gone are the days when our young men lied about their ages to serve their country. (They were consequently thrown out of the military for the offense when discovered.) Girls aren’t as likely to create fake IDs to get into nightclubs. (They were also thrown out.) These days, they lie about their ages so they can send tweets or poke cute girls on Facebook. Parents today get upset, but in the end, they condone their children’s lying by allowing them to keep and use the illegally-gained profiles. Then they allow their younger siblings to set up accounts. What’s wrong with this picture?

What’s the point of having age requirements if they are ignored? No, I’m not advocating that age requirements are done away with. Just as speed limits are set to keep drivers safe, age requirements help keep site users safe. One would think that parents would want to enforce them for their children’s safety. Social networking sites are favorites for online predators because personal information is shared with less caution so victims are easier to find. Be careful thinking that online predators go after other people’s children. You just might be the other people and your kids just might be the victims. Parents, let’s turn on our brains, shall we? The kid won’t die if she has to wait to get bombarded with FarmTown requests. I promise.