Too much internet bad for preteens

When Facebook first began, in order for a person to log onto the site, he or she had to have a college email address.

However, over the last few years that has changed.

Now the site allows kids un­der the age of 18 to access it and build a page.

This is in no way a good path for our society to continue down.

I think the site should rein­state the age limit, and only al­low eighteen and older to access it.

When it comes to Facebook, the site is great for keeping up with old classmates, old friends, posting events, etc.

This isn’t the problem that makes Facebook an issue for younger kids.

The issue is the drama and the naivety of some of the younger kids that are on the site.

Since I’ve been on Facebook, I am definitely not a stranger to seeing the massive amount of drama that will appear in the form of a status, followed by comments that will erupt into a slew of profane language.

To think kids are seeing and learning frrom it everyday makes me cringe.

Another issue is the pictures people post.

Some people post photos that would make a man such as my­self blush.

When I think about a 13 or 14 year-old-child seeing this, it makes me nervous.

And seeing a near naked pic­ture of an older man or woman seems like it would speed that process up not, to mention cross other boundaries that would take far too long to mention.

And then we have the kids themselves. Kids today are al­ready progressing earlier than they once did.

Now, they are able to access material way past their maturity level at a most impressionable age.

You could argue that is in­evitable through any means of media.

But a parent can monitor T.V. and film their children watch much more than what they are doing on the internet.

Now they gain a Facebook page and believe that since they have one, they can perform in the activities that us adults per­form in.

Since Facebook was started for people who were 18 and older, it should remain this way for a reason.

As adults, our minds have grown to a point we can handle most of the things we see on the site.

But preteens and teenagers who are just starting high school have yet to gain that maturity.

I feel that if Facebook wants to include younger people, they should create a Facebook for high school students, keep it separate from the adult version.

The age should rage from ei­ther 14-17 or 16-17.

Once they obtain a college email address and they’re 18, they are permitted to join.

I know there are holes in this plan, as there are loop holes to almost every system.

Kids can always lie about what their age really is, but there is way to stop this for the most part.

For kids under 18, Facebook should only allow them to access it if they’re parents sign up for it and obtain an email address.

There should be specific rules for the parents to sign in, so the site won’t be fooled by kids pre­tending to be their parents.

I write this, not to bash Face­book because it is a fantastic site.

I write this to bring attention to the growing problem with our younger kids and Facebook .

I hope that the site and some of the parents will see this issue and come up with a way help this issue.