Young Facebook users: is a problem?
By Tori Wiese, 12, Wesley Copeman, 12, and Gregorios Mihalopoulos, 11.

The names of the kids interviewed for this story have been changed.

About, twenty thousand under-aged users are removed from Facebook each day, according to officials with the company.

The company policy states that a person has to be at least thirteen to create an account and users are asked to confirm that they are of age when they start up the account. However, because there is no reliable way other than an honor system to monitor users, many under age thirteen simply lie to the company.

The Consumer Reports 2011 State of the Net Survey estimates that of the roughly 20 million minors on Facebook 7.5 million were under the age of thirteen. Included in those 7.5 million under-aged users, five million were under ten years old.

The survey also determined that many of these young children were largely unsupervised while on Facebook, “exposing the children to malware or serious threats such as predators or bullies.”

The minimum age of thirteen was set by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, a federal law passed in 1998. Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg has been quoted as being in favor of abolishing all age limits for online social networking. He feels we should instead work to make the sites safer for kids. Zuckerberg has argued that a learning process that should begin at a very young age is eliminated by age limits.

Still, it’s obvious a significant number of U.S. children use various social network sites, including Facebook. Some say this is a problem not only because under-aged kids are learning it’s ok to lie, but also because they may not know better than to give out their personal information, which of course, could lead to bigger security problems.

Why would a kid under thirteen want to join Facebook? Well the answer is quite simple, according to “Maddy,” twelve, of Ishpeming.

“My friends told me I should have one because they’re really fun,” She said.

That makes sense when you look at the fact that Facebook is a social networking site and if one under-aged kid has an account, their friends who are also under the age limit will likely want to join as well.

“ All of them, all of my friends have ‘a Facebook.’” “Maddy” said.

Do twelve-year-olds who have an account feel as if they lied to Facebook? They do, according to all of the kids interviewed for this story. “Mary, twelve, of Ishpeming said yes.

“ I lied about my age and where I live and stuff,” she said.

Also, according to the kids interviewed for this story, their parents know that are under-aged and that they have an account. In most cases, the parents helped set up the account and are “friends” with their kids. “Stephanie,” twelve, of Ishpeming is “friends” with her parents.

“ I had to ask them in order to have one [an account] and they said yes, as long as I’m your ‘friend,’” she said.

“ Maddy” said her parents established her account for her on her twelfth birthday.

“ Before my birthday they said no, but once I turned twelve they gave it to me,” she said.

Although there may be plenty of potential problems connected with those under thirteen having a Facebook account, there are also some good things about it. For instance being able to connect with relatives or friends who live far away to see what they are up to.

“ It allows me to talk to my friends that don’t live where I live,” “Maddy” said.

The games and quizzes on Face-book are also a big draw for under-aged users.

But hidden in this seemingly harmless social network is a minefield of dangers Like “Creepers,” according to Mary, who said she is old enough to deal with them properly.

“ I just ignore them or block them,” she said.

Senator Al Franken, a Democrat from Minnesota, has written to Facebook to complain about the ability of young kids to sign up for an account. He said he is worried about security and privacy issues. He has said that younger users are the most vulnerable to predators on Facebook and the rest of the Internet and it should be impossible for them to inadvertently share their phone numbers and home addresses with anyone.

Some people feel it should be the site’s responsibility to prevent kids under thirteen from getting an account, but other people think it’s the responsibility of parents, plain and simple, to monitor their own children. “Terri,” fourteen, of Ishpeming started her account with her parent’s permission when she was twelve. She said that her parents still monitor her.

“ I have to ask to go on Facebook and they know my password so if I get in trouble or anything they can change it and take it away from me,” she said.

“ Terri” has mixed feelings about being on facebook.

“ I am glad that I did join because a lot of my friends have it and I can chat with them, but no because a lot of people write bad stuff on it and when your parents see it they make it look like you’re the bad person instead of the people that did it,” she said.

According to “Terri,” that situation has lead to her account being temporarily taken away by her parents.

“ I had it taken away because my parents didn’t like the things that my ‘friends’ were posting,” she said. “I got it back but they made me delete half of my ‘friends’ so I only have my family members and my real friends as ‘friends.’”

Still many parents don’t care or check if they’re child is on Facebook. Moral of story: unless Facebook changes or finds a way to check ages, then there will always be that under-aged user so it is up to parents to monitor their children.