I had a conversation with a friend the other day and asked him if he ever thought about at what age he would allow his current 3-year-old to have his own account on a social media site. Parental supervision included, of course.
I asked the same question on Twitter later on and replies varied between 8 or 9 years old, 13 or 14 and 18. I don’t have children of my own but I do have a very young niece and nephew. So I slightly reworded my own question to myself; at what age could I see them having accounts of their own? Oh lets be honest, at what age (of my niece and nephew) would I be comfortable knowing they have their own accounts?
Would they even care to have an account?
At what age would a youngster begin to become interested in social media and start asking if they could sign up on a site? Would they sign up without asking?
Then I thought, what if social media existed back when I was a kid? I’d certainly be interested in talking to other kids my age from around the world however, I also be completely creeped out by Twitter spammers enough to make me cancel my account.
What do you think? If you have kids, have they ever expressed interest in having their own account on a site?
Speaking as a designer and heavy-duty social media user, with 8 and 5 year old girls, I say:
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
:)