I was a bit taken the back the other day when I noticed that someone who I am friends with on Facebook was tagging in her son. Her son is 8 years old.
She’s changed his date of birth to make him 40 something and she is his only Facebook friend. I dare say she’s in control of his profile. There are no posts on his page except the ones that she has tagged him into. But still it doesn’t sit quite right.
Facebook’s own minimum age is 13. In a way 13 is a dangerous sort of age where you are starting to get involved with more complicated relationships. On the other hand a child should be developing the skills to deal with these, although I think adding in the online aspect is a bit of a minefield. You can’t wrap them up in cotton wool forever though.
Age eight seems a bit weird. It’s his account, but it’s not his account. He’s not running it. Have they signed him up so he can play games on Facebook without it showing on their profile? Or maybe just because it’s convenient to tag him into things they’ve done? Or is it even to help her progress on Candy Crush or something? I’m not sure and I’m not sure I want to get into a discussion with her about it. I don’t want to be judgemental, but I am genuinely puzzled about the whole thing. Any ideas?
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