Brook Anderson interviewed Ayman Itani, Think Media's CEO, about Facebook's recent announcement that they are considering to allow kids under 13 years old to join Facebook while providing parental supe...

1. Local News
Parents, educators welcome Facebook
for kids
June 26, 2012 01:39 AM
By Brooke Anderson
The Daily Star
Facebook currently bans children under 13, though many preteens still use the site.
BEIRUT: Facebook’s announcement earlier this month that it would
consider allowing children under 13 to access the site has been met
with little reaction from parents.
In fact, many young kids already have accounts, and some parents
and educators say it can be a good thing with the right supervision.
Hana Ghannoum was with her son two years ago when he opened a
Facebook account at the age of 10.

2. “I was against him lying about his age. But he had two older sisters on
Facebook, and he wanted to be a part of the whole thing,” Ghannoum
says, noting that her son added her as a “friend” on the site, which
allows her to see his activity.
So far, Ghannoum, a psychology instructor at the American University
of Beirut, says Facebook has been a good experience for her children,
who use the site to share photos of their vacations and stay in touch
with friends.
In fact, as the family prepares to relocate to Germany, her children
have already made friends with their new classmates through the
world’s largest social networking site, which she believes is a good
way for them to ease the transition to a new country.
But she understands the concern many parents might have over
increased access for younger users, who might not be mature enough
to handle certain content, language and interactions online. Several
months ago, her children’s school sent a note to parents, asking them
to speak to their kids about online bullying, which had become a
problem among some students.
While some have criticized the company for considering the inclusion
of young children, many acknowledge that the move would change
very little and would only formalize an already existing situation. It is
common for parents to set up accounts for their kids, and some have
even created accounts for their babies as soon as they were born.
The social networking site currently bans children under 13, in line with
U.S. regulations which require parental consent for data collection of
children. This applies to all the countries throughout the world where it
operates. But the company itself admits that the rule is difficult to
enforce, particularly with so many children wanting to use the site.
According to a study in November by the Internet journal First Monday,
19, 32, 55 and 69 percent of children (ages 10, 11, 12 and 13
respectively) in the families they surveyed in the United States have
Facebook accounts.
The same study found that 95, 88, 82 and 82 percent of children at
those ages who joined the social network did so with the awareness of
their parents, while 78, 68, 76 and 60 percent of them did it with the

3. help of their parents.
Still, in a move that it hopes will expand its user base while being
acceptable to parents, Facebook says it is working on prototypes that
will allow preteens to use the site under parental supervision. This
would include allowing parents to decide who their children can or
can’t “friend” and what applications they use. The new features might
also allow Facebook to charge parents for the games their children
play.
While this new move might not change much in practice, it is causing
parents and social media experts to evaluate the need for better
privacy settings, parental supervision and communication with the
much younger generation that’s now socializing online.
“Parents need to play a more active role in terms of awareness,” says
Ayman Itani, media professor at the Lebanese American University.
“It’s the same online: stranger danger, being careful about what they
share.”
However, at an age when kids are not only vulnerable to strangers, but
also have not developed time management skills, Itani stresses that it
is important for parents to help get their children into the habit of
limiting their time online, especially on a site as engaging as
Facebook.
“A conscious effort needs to be made for a more balanced lifestyle,”
Itani says. “I’m seeing more families making efforts – like saying no
phones at the table.”
John Hess, who works at an NGO in Beirut and is the father of four
children including two teenage boys, is against the idea of Facebook
lowering its user age, which he believes is already too young.
Because of the company’s lack of enforceable regulations, he says he
has a strict schedule for when his kids can go online, an agreement to
share their passwords with him until they are 16, and he monitors their
activity on a weekly basis.
“We have had to correct some bad language and communicating the
wrong emotions to girls,” he says. “What’s interesting about Facebook
and other social networking sites is the amount of raw emotion that
seems to come out in text. Closing messages with ‘I love you’ and ‘do

4. you love me back’ are exploratory feelings, but also ones that need
direction.
“This is where we as parents can address the positive side of these
emotions, but also point out how these statements can send someone
down a path that they are not mature enough for.”
Even with parental supervision, he wonders if some from the older
generations are able to understand the nuances of their children’s
online language, such as “hooking up” and “WTF” – which, in his
opinion, is all the more reason for parents to have open
communication with their children in their daily lives rather than just
close supervision online.
“With so many fathers traveling and working outside of Lebanon, I
notice that Facebook attempts to fill this need for familial intimacy,” he
says. “This is why youth find it so attractive and secretive. They have
their own private world where humor and senseless things can be
expressed, but also a void can be met [through] a surrogate family.”
As a parent, he sees the site as a double-edged sword, with the need
to regulate his children’s use as well as an opportunity for them to
learn about the world, noting that following current events and relating
to friends have overtaken their interest in gaming as an online activity.
He says, “I have noticed just in my children an awareness of the Arab
Spring, the financial crisis in Greece, and the issues that their peer
groups are facing in other parts of the world. It is almost like a global
solidarity movement for youth.
“Overall, I think that Facebook is a positive thing for youth ... I like that
kids have an avenue for expressing themselves. Of course their
immaturity will show up, but that is to be expected.”
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on
June 26, 2012, on page 4.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jun-26/178203-parents-
educators-welcome-facebook-for-kids.ashx#axzz1yspupxE5