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I have been hearing on the news that there is an age limit to joining Facebook and other social networking sites. I happen to know for sure that one of my grandchildren is using Facebook and she is only eleven years old. Obviously, no one is enforcing the age requirements (including her parents).

I notice on my particular Facebook wall that my family members and friends are fairly tame and most of the conversation is PG rated. I am also aware that this is not always the case on other Facebook walls. The question is how young is too young to become a member of a social networking site? At present the age required to join is thirteen and I believe that this is way too young. I would suggest that eighteen be the age at which a young person can join one of these sites. I believe that children younger than eighteen are way too vulnerable to be exposed to some of the known content of these sites.

It has been proven that young children are often ripe for the pickings of predators and are not mature enough to act accordingly when approached by one of these Internet criminals. Also, there are cases where children are actually exposed to language and topics that they are not mature enough to participate in.

It is not possible for all parents to monitor every moment of their childrens time spent on the various social sites and this leaves these kids wide open to any creep who wants to approach them. Why do we want our children exposed to not only predators but too topics that are way beyond their scope of understanding?

Is there a way to guarantee that all kids are safe on these sites…no! Is there a way to make sure that kids will never be exposed to inappropriate language on these sites…no! Is there a way to guarantee that kids will not be exposed to situations that are bound to disturb them and even influence their behavior…no! Therefore, the age limit of who can register for these networking sites should be raised to a level where at least a little maturity exists.

I doubt that anything will be done to change this situation even with the many recent news stories about the possible consequences of allowing young children to be members of places like Facebook. I agree with the comments that some parents use these sites as digital babysitters. It is tempting to put your kids in front of a computer (or television set) and allow them to gaze for hours on end at images and situations that may harm them in order for the parent to get some work done or to simply gain a few hours of down time without the child nagging them or asking them to pay attention.

Perhaps that is the bottom line. Perhaps if we as parents take the time to pay more attention we will not only alleviate the need for digital babysitters but raise children who are not so predisposed to violence. Our we creating a society of children who are immune to adult situations way before their time. Our we creating a situation where children see death and violence as the norm rather than the ultimate destruction of our society.

I am not blaming Facebook or any other social networking sites solely for the recent rash of children against children murders, but we have to start somewhere to try and stop the fall of the moral society that we hope to raise our children to be a part of. I am just hoping that it isn’t already too late. Kids need to learn to communicate face to face and not just via typing words in an anonymous world. They need to learn to deal with emotional situations in a rational and just way. We can’t allow them to hide behind a screen where they can be anyone they want to be; where they can be cruel beyond anything that they would otherwise imagine in a face to face confrontation.

We are creating a society of throw-away children who wind up doing harm to themselves and others and all we can do is discuss their actions after the fact. Some of those actions are horrendous and permanent and it is up to us as adults to change the tide of destructive behavior that we have been witnessing lately on a more frequent basis.

We can start by changing what are kids watch, who they connect with on the internet and off of it and by paying attention to the signs of destructive behavior that some of us seem oblivious too. I believe that our future depends on it.