Imagine a younger relative (sibling, cousin, niece/nephew) sends you a Facebook friend request. This takes you by surprise because they are only 11-13 years old. However, you bite, and accept the Friend request. You immediately send them a message about being safe and secure on Facebook. What do you tell them to do? What do you tell them not to do?
Your assignment is to write this letter to your young family member. After you have written this letter. Debrief me and tell me why you wrote what you did.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Dear imaginary young one (cousine) your name is now Ruby. WHY DID YOU GET A FACEBOOK!!!!! Don't you know you are too young for this website; there are dangerous people around every corner! I bet you didn't even read the terms of agreement or the privacy policy. I AM DISAPPOINTED IN YOU! Does your mother know about this, I bet if she did she wouldn't allow it. I demand that you immediately deactivate your account or I will go over to your house, even though you live in a different state, and beat you up! I will call your mother and tell her everything and Santa won't come this year because Santa doesn't like young kids on facebook!
When you are 16 or so and mildly understand social networking, then you may get a new one, or just not get one at all because you'll only get sucked into all the applications and heaven forbid if I find out you were on Farmville even once! THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!
That being said, please deactivate your account, go play with some barbies, and watch Pokemon or something.
___________________________________
Ok, so I wrote what I did, because I don't think young kids should be allowed on facebook, they have no idea what social networking is and even if they did it couldn't benefit them at such a yound age. Kids under 16 shouldn't be allowed to join, they should just talk, and gain the people skills that they would lose if they started communicating through facebook.
Dear Laura,
It was a surprise to discover you on Facebook, but now that you're on here, hi! Before you start going to far, I want to tell you about some features that many people don't know about. The first thing you should do after creating your account is to visit your Privacy Settings page. I want you to make your profile information set to Friends Only, and allow only Friends to find you through searches. Why should you do this? It's for your safety! There's no reason that complete strangers from anywhere in the world should be able to find out who you are. Wouldn't you like to keep your personal information and activities between your friends and you?
Also, I would like you to check out your Application Privacy settings and uncheck all those boxes of things that your Facebook Applications are allowed to see. You don't want to allow Applications to have access to too much information, because you don't know how they might use it!
As long as you're going to be using Facebook, I just want you to be aware of the fact that whatever things you enter into Facebook are not necessarily private, even if they seem to be. Therefore, there is a risk that strangers, or big companies, will use your information in bad ways, in ways you and I might not realize.
Yes, you can have fun with your friends on Facebook, but on the other hand, I don't want you to write or post anything there that you would not want strangers to know!
And if you want to interact with your friends more freely, without worrying about what strangers might see, then I suggest you give them a phone call and go play games outside! You can't imagine how much you will miss activities like those when you grow up.
Good luck!
Emily
===================================
In my letter, I decided there was no point in simply forbidding Facebook because of its dangers. Good or bad, it's only natural that people are picking up on technologies at a younger and younger age. If most of the girl's peers are using Facebook already, I don't want her to feel left behind. However, I want to lay down some strong rules about how she should protect her privacy, because these privacy and safety concerns do not readily come to mind to 11-13 year-olds. If "Laura" learns to use Facebook responsibly and to be sensible about what she posts there, then that's the best I can hope for.
Dear Ariana,
Hey my little niece. I want to say congrats for getting a computer and figuring out how to track down your uncle. I don’t know if your parents have told you anything about the internet, but there are some dangerous people and things not only in the world, but on the internet also. You have created a facebook account and I can accept that but I want you to be safe and know that facebook is set up in a way that you can secure all your information that shouldn’t be public, but you decide to display it anyway. Here are a few things I want you to do to protect yourself on facebook. 1.) Do not give out any phone numbers or your address to anyone older than you and anyone you do not know. 2.) Go to your account settings and privatize your page so that only people YOU add can see it. 3.) Do not reply to messages from people you don’t know. 4.) Facebook creators made a block list for a reason SO USE IT TO YOUR DISCRETION. 5.) Have fun and let your mother know when you log on…..ASK FIRST. If you have any problems just call me and I’ll walk you through the steps to making your profile secure and tight.
~ Love Uncle Mero
I told my niece these things because these are some common things I forgot to do when I created a facebook a year or two ago. At young ages many children are stalked as prey for many predators on the internet. I took it upon myself to state what she should and should not do to protect her because as we know no one wants to see their loved ones hurt in anyway. Besides the fact that she’s a little girl I just wanted to make sure she knew the precautions to having a fun yet safe experience.
Dear ------.
Congraduations. You have just joined ranks with millions of other youths, soon to be wasting away hours upon hours on a mere website. go ahead, send out your friend requests to every one of your friends, and spam their inboxes with "care bear" requests and "friendship tokens". It should all seem fun and cute right, completely innocent?
The answer is no, ------. If you look up into the address bar, where you will find the URL, look to the near end, and you should find these for characters: ".com". Facebook is a business, a commercial website who's sole interest is making money. Not money to stay alive, but to make more money. Have you noticed how facebook keeps pushing you to add more and more information about yourself? Information that me and even your parents wouldn't think twice about you posting online? Well, it's all worth money to Facebook. All of it, where the the more you actually use Facebook, the more money it makes off you. And I don't mean this at all in the way of how most websites make money off of advertisement. You see, on Facebook, the advertisements are to a loose extent able to search through all of your information, and sell it to advertisement companies so they can provide "focused advertising", based off your personal and everyday information.
Also, be cautious about just what you allow to view your profile, especially with "Applications". Whenever you add a "application", Facebook allows the 3rd-party, or outside developers to view your personal information. And as Facebook does, they sell it for focused advertisement and data mining.
Lastly, be very cautiously about who you friend. When you post something, everybody whom you have friended can see it. Everyone. Now, that doesn't mean exactly to not friend family members so everything stays between your friends, because it won't. When you apply for a job, and if anyone should search your name, your Facebook profile will likely be found, and a employer will probably choose not to hire you if they find inappropriate information on your profile. Peroid. Even if you've set your privacy settings to the highest, Facebook still allows some employers to view your profile, based on their advertising contracts.
The fact of the matter is that everything that you post online can be found and traced directly back to you. Enough for wasting time on Facebook, because there is definitely more to lose then prviliages to a crummy website.
_________________________
If it were my choice, I would not even begin to consider recommending Facebook to a younger sibling. The fact that most high schoolers already waste most of their time on FB is sad enough, and to see it infect any of my siblings is just disgusting. If anything, I would try to just evade their minds from such a waste of time, and find something more useful I guess.
Wonderful, I'm sounding like a parent.
(brendan m)
Hey Noah, it's Brendan.
Let's get to the point.
You are a good kid, and very sociable. With that in mind, your friends will tell you to get a facebook. I was pressured into getting one, and it comes with many responsibilities. It's basically a reflection of your character in digital form. It shouldn't be taken lightly, as facebook is only providing this service to advertise things to you and to record all your personal information.
Be careful, and don't use it very much. It has its uses, but stay away from apps and silly games. You're smart; stay smart online.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I feel bad lecturing my alternate version of my younger cousin, but in the end he would have been grateful. Facebook is only useful as I ignore half of its features.
Hey,
It’s nice to see that you’ve created your first facebook account, but just so you know it’s not all fun and games on here. Facebook is an easy way for you to keep in contact with all your friends from school or people who you went to camp with and such, but there are quite a few things you should be aware of. Don’t accept friend requests from people if you don’t know who they are. Also do not give out your phone number, address, or email to anyone; don’t share it, don’t post it. Change your privacy settings; make sure your information is very secure (or at least as secure as it can be online). You don’t want everyone to be able to see your profile, trust me. Another thing, if you sign up for applications try to make sure they aren’t sending you e-mails and posting willy-nilly on your wall. Also just so you know, when you put something on Facebook you should assume EVERYONE sees what you put up. Pictures, posts, and status updates are all subject for the whole world to see. I know this is a lot to take in all at once so feel free to send me a message and I’ll help you out!
-Ann
------------
To me these are just some basic guidelines; I really don’t think a 11-13 year old should be on Facebook anyway. I mentioned giving out phone number, address, or e-mail because they are all personal information that can be used to contact this child in an environment even less monitored by others. Changing the profile settings is important because on Facebook your profile starts out open and you have to take the initiative to hide things, a new user will probably not know that. Applications are mostly just annoying, but they can hold some of your information so you shouldn’t sign up for lots of them or just try to give them minimal information. The last point was to assume everything you put online everyone sees. I think that’s a good way to think about Facebook, because otherwise you might end up posting something you regret.
Dear Made Up Younger Sibling,
I waited a long time before I got a Facebook and I'm slightly worried by how young you are and first getting one. But, I trust that you have a good head on your shoulders, and so I just wanted to give you a little bit of advice because I've had some creepy experiences that I would love to have you avoid.
First off, go to your privacy settings and adjust them so that not everyone can see everything. I recommend that anything that you write about yourself should only be seen by friends. For profile, only friends. For pictures and stuff like that, I would do Friends of Friends, and basically go through all of the settings and ask yourself, "would I want the principle of my school to see this about me?" If the answer is no then I would recommend friends of friends.
There is also the ability for anyone to send you a message. I, personally, took that option off. Someone can send you a message via friend request, and if they don't want to be your friend, then they probably don't need to be talking to you.
Also, you should be careful of your activities on facebook. At your age it doesn't really matter what you have going on on facebook, but you'll probably keep using it through high school and the older you get the more valuable your information gets. And companies have found ways to buy your information. To try to keep your information safe, I would recommend not joining the "1,000,000 people for ___" groups because that is an easy way for people to have access to spam you. Be careful what applications you allow access to. The application lists the creator before you click allow, google that person and see if they are reputable. If not, you probably don't need that app.
Mostly just use your common sense. Facebook is fun but it can get a little scary. Only friend people you know and try to investigate any offers before you accept them. I know you won't be stupid, but I just wanted to point out a few things I was stupid about.
Talk to you later,
Sara
-----------------------------
Basically I just wanted to lay out all of the things that I think are scary just so that they would be aware. I didn't want them to think I was telling them what to do because that can lead to back lash. These are the things that I wish someone had warned me about before I joined FB.
Dear Young One,
I am surprised you have this social networking site. Do a lot of your friends have facebooks? Well Facebook is a great tool for everyone, it keeps you connected with all your friends and family. You will get to know what they do all the time. I am just surprised you are getting a facebook at this young age. Well I would like to give you a few tips and pointers about facebook before you get too involved.
If you look on top of your facebook home page, you will see the settings button. The settings button will help you adjust your settings. Make sure you change your privacy settings before you put your information on the website. Also only put information that you want the public to see. Think of it this way, if you don't want your parents to know certain things about you, then don't put it on facebook!
Another pointer is to never befriend someone you don't know. If you get a friend request from someone that seems strange or odd, REJECT them. It's okay if you don't have a thousand facebook friends. Believe me, life is easier with less facebook friends. Lately, I have been removing my friends because I don't really talk to them anymore.
Also, make sure the pictures you post online are decent and don't make you look bad. Pictures on the internet rarely go away and will come to haunt you later. Don't do anything you might regret later. Also, I would like to notify you that schools and employers look at facebook. So make sure that you don't put trashy things on your facebook.
Also, on facebook there are lots of fake scams and advertisements. Never fall for any of those free Miley Cyrus concerts. They are there to fool you. So be careful about what you click on.
I just thought I would let you know a thing or two about facebook. Please take my advice to heart and it will help you a great deal. Thank you, and enjoy your time on facebook.
Love,
Disha.
I wrote what I did because these are the things that I look at to be safe on facebook. I do all of these things myself and I haven't been scammed or anything on facebook. So I'm sure this advice would help another person just as much as it helps me!
Dear Lauren,
Congratulations on joining facebook. Back in my day you had to be in college or get an invitation from a college friend to do so! I bet you're super excited. However, I want you to know that there are some precautions you should take on FB to be safe -- I'm not lame, I'm just looking out for you.
First, you should probably take your phone number off. Anyone could use it to call you, and your real friends should already have it, right? You should change your account preferences so that your wall, photos, etc, isn't visible to people who aren't your friends. There's no reason for them to see that and also boys could stalk you, and boys are bad people.
One last thing -- don't just accept friend requests from anyone! Lots of accounts are fake and just looking to use your personal information to sell you stuff or scam you.
Finally, see that ad for Christian singles? Don't click it.
Greg
---
I basically looked at my sis' fb account and said what I thought was wrong with it -- the scams are really the only thing I personally worry about for me, but all my stuff is still private. And she's my sister so I gotta protect her, right?
Post a Comment