Poll: Should social networking sites face age restrictions?

[Eisenfaust]

as the title says, should facebook and similar sites face some degree of age restriction?

first of all, yes, I am doing this as part of an essay, but my intention for posting the question is to give me ideas, not to answer the question for me (ie: looking for inspiration), as I currently only have a few reasons either for or against:

For the age restriction:
- Prevention of (internet based) cyber bullying
- Prevention of children falling victims to predators

Against the age restriction:
- The restrictions are hard to tangibly enforce, as you can just lie to get around them, and as such will probably only serve to make parents/guardians the only entities liable were either of the two above situations to occur which would cascade into numerous other things (over protective parents, no internet access, etc)
- Restricting access will only make the underage want it more (which is hard to argue academically)

That's it, those are the only reasons I can (currently) think of, short of criticisms of age restrictions in general. Please, throw more at me (preferably on both sides of the argument but hey, it's up to you)

as a side note, i don't intend on using the poll data as statistical evidence, so don't worry


TLR Facebook... age restrictions? Why/Why not?

 

[Berethond]

Yes, probably to around 13 (I'm pretty sure facebook already does have a 13 year old age restriction, actually) if for no reason than to help duck liability issues.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

I believe it already does have a minimum age of 13 years attached to it. But just to give some help here:

- Restricting access will only make the underage want it more (which is hard to argue academically)

I wouldn't say it's hard to argue academically, providing you're allowed to provide psychological study for examination and use it to argue your case:

<a href=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10357749?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=3>Sauce

 

[Jordi]

I voted against an age restriction. I don't really use them much, but I think social networks can be very useful and fun to use. Therefore, I think extremely good arguments are necessary to restrict a certain group of people from using them.

Bullies and predators are of course real dangers, but they also exist in real life and on other places on the internet. We weight the pros and cons of allowing children to go outside or go on the internet, and we determine whether they can do so by themselves or if parental supervision is necessary. I think this can apply equally well to social networks.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I thought they already do, and it was age 14. Or is that just youtube?

And here's the answer. Pretty much any website which requires an account to use is going to have an age restriction. For most (non-porn) sites, including social networking sites like Facebook, and forums like The Escapist and Gamefaqs, that age is 13. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to enforce -- the anonymous nature of the internet requires the underage user to be stupid enough to admit to being underage.

 

[Eisenfaust]

I believe it already does have a minimum age of 13 years attached to it. But just to give some help here:

- Restricting access will only make the underage want it more (which is hard to argue academically)

I wouldn't say it's hard to argue academically, providing you're allowed to provide psychological study for examination and use it to argue your case:

<a href=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10357749?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=3>Sauce

i would hope so, given it's a psychology course... much obliged

 

[pope_of_larry]

if there where strict age restrictions and hard to get pasted it would make the people over 18 or whatever not want to go though the of trouble setting up a account. not sure if that would help in your essay but still a valid point.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

i would hope so, given it's a psychology course... much obliged

Well then there you go! You're very welcome and good luck!

 

[Jonluw]

Yes. Because I don't like the idea of me having posted pictures and all the stuff I thought about when I was a kid. i.e. I'm glad I grew up before Facebook came.

 

[JasonKaotic]

If you put age restrictions on, people can still fake their age.
I don't think there should be restrictions, though. If they want to join a network, let them. I'm all for freedom to do what you want (as long as it doesn't harm other people, 'course).