The truth is, many kids are already using games that have a social networking component within them, even though the CCFC letter says, “younger children are simply not ready to have social media accounts.” In 2017, 74% of 12- to 15-year-olds and 23% of British 8- to 11-year-olds already had a social media account, and 12% of under-8s in the US had already used social games online. ![]() ![]() This is precisely a rationale for Messenger Kids – by creating a ‘ walled garden‘, parents can keep an eye on what kids are doing and who they are receiving messages from. Worrisome content has also been found on the platform Musical.ly, which is used by millions of under-13s (although also for good – some colleagues are working on a piece on civic engagement on the platform as I write). The company provides settings for parents to be able to curate the experience of kids under 13 but I’m not optimistic about how many parents actually use these (Roblox, let us know your feedback!). Roblox, like many other kids’ games, does not have age restrictions but does have in-built social communication functions. A letter to parents from a primary-school headteacher in the UK warned that many children had confessed they’d received contact from strangers or seen the characters in sexual positions, and had not told their parents. This is my opinion and not necessarily that of the rest of the Parenting for a Digital Future team who have their own conclusions – and if I’ve done a reasonable job here I hope you’ll also have enough information to form your own.*Īt the same time as the debate around Messenger Kids was unfolding, I saw several reports that young kids had encountered inappropriate contact and content on the popular game Roblox. Today and Friday I’ll offer my take – summarising arguments both ‘for’ (today) and ‘against’ (Friday) Messenger Kids. However critics, including a consortium of organisations led by the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood (CCFC) and Common Sense Media, have questioned whether the app will simply hook ever-younger kids into the always-on culture of social media, and have asked Facebook to take the service down. Messenger Kids is an extension of Facebook that allows parents to set up an account for under-13-year-olds (who are otherwise barred, in principle, from Facebook in accordance with COPPA regulations) so that they can connect with ‘parent-approved’ contacts in a ‘controlled environment’ through calls and messaging (enhanced by Snapchat-like stickers, masks and sound effects).įacebook has described how Messenger Kids was developed with child-safety and media literacy experts and advocates, and describes it as a practical way of safely and easily helping children and relatives connect. ![]() Recently, the conversation has landed on Facebook’s new Messenger Kids, an app that Facebook launched in December in the US. įrom dodgy content on YouTube to iPhones turning kids into addicts, the past few months have seen a litany of controversial stories about kids and tech emerge – instigating some tough questions about what industry and parents should be doing to keep kids safe and support their health and well-being both on digital media and beyond it. Alicia Blum-Ross is a researcher at LSE’s Department of Media and Communications and is part of the Parenting for a Digital Future research project. The next post on Friday will contrastingly look at the concerns surrounding the app. She argues that the platform provides the opportunity for under-13s to begin to use social media and develop their digital literacy skills together with their parents. ![]() In the first of two posts looking at alternative sides of the debate surrounding the new Facebook Messenger for Kids app, Alicia Blum-Ross considers the potential positives it offers.
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