I have to confess that last year I let my son join Facebook a few months before his 13th birthday. I figured what’s the harm, as he entered a fake birth date and instantly gained access to an account.
Despite the fact that a federal law bars children under age 13 from opening a social media account unless they get verifiable parental consent, as many as 7.5 million Facebook users are under that legal age, according to a May survey conducted by Consumer Reports.
And another recent survey suggests the number of parents who allow their 10- to 12-year-olds on social media sites has doubled in the past year. But only one in five parents say they’d let their kids use these sites unmonitored.
I’ve friended both my son, who’s now 13, and my 15-year-old daughter. And, yes, I do frequently monitor their activity. Still, I now think I should have barred my son from signing up underage, since speaking with Dr. Michael Rich, an adolescent medicine physician who heads the Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston.
“The issue I have isn’t about the age itself — there’s nothing magical about 13 in terms of children’s cognitive abilities — but about the law in place,’’ Rich says. “You’re teaching a kid to lie and scam the system, which isn’t a good example to be setting.’’
That’s a pretty convincing point.
While Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg stated in a recent interview with Fortune magazine that kids under 13 should be allowed on Facebook for its online media educational benefits, that would require changing the law or working out a way for parents like me to prove that we have given permission.
Unless that comes to fruition, I am not going to allow my youngest child to sign up until he turns 13.
However, the larger issue for parents is not so much the age at which their children enter social networking sites but how they handle themselves once they’re online. Rich suggests parents set the following rules.
Log on only in public areas of the house. Kids should sit in the kitchen or den — rather than locked in their bedrooms — when chatting online with friends, so a parent can supervise.
Be your child’s networking adviser rather than policeman. Kids should be encouraged to reach out for help if they’re in trouble for, say, inadvertently being pulled into a bullying session in a chat room. But they should also be made aware of the rules ahead of time and the consequences. “Work out with your kid in advance under what circumstances they’ll lose their Facebook account,’’ Rich says.
Be cognizant of the teen brain. “Adolescents’ brain development often doesn’t enable them to project too far into the future,’’ Rich says. That means they might not have the forethought to predict that the photo they post of themselves holding a beer can might get them into trouble later with the high school principal. Teens also tend to make their pages aspirational, says Rich — who they want to be, rather than who they actually are.
Make sure your child understands the site and how it works. Do they know they’re going to be targeted by advertisers with ads geared to them and their personal interests? Do they understand that certain parts of their profile are public for all to see?
Set some time limits. Facebook shouldn’t be interfering with homework, going outdoors to play, or hanging out with friends face to face. DEBORAH KOTZ
BOFH wrote: A cursory search with
debkotz wrote: Actually there is a federal law, but it’s not a criminal offense to break it. It’s called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and basically bans websites that gather data on users from allowing access to anyone under 13 without verifiable parental consent.
reindeergirl wrote: Why does a tween need a FB account?
Insurance options for college graduates
As college and graduate school students turn the tassels on their graduation caps, many will instantly find themselves without health insurance — even in Massachusetts, with its insurance mandate.Keith Mendoza, consumer specialist with the online insurance broker eHealthInsurance, provides some tips for graduates on finding affordable coverage in Massachusetts.
Take advantage of open enrollment. Massachusetts has an open enrollment period from July 1 through Aug. 15 for anyone who is uninsured to sign up for a new plan. Any student who has declared residency in the state after graduation can use the MassHealth website (www.mahealthconnector.org) to apply.
Consider staying on a parent’s plan. The Affordable Care Act now mandates that employer health plans cover their employees’ children until age 26 even if they are no longer dependents — though some companies may have been granted a waiver from this coverage if they had their old plans grandfathered in.
Do a little comparison shopping first. Mendoza says he found plans on the MassHealth Connector site that start for as little as $229 a month for premiums for a young individual, while employer plans might charge an extra $400 a month to cover adult children. D.K.
HealthReform2 wrote : However, if a young adult is eligible for an employer plan they are not eligible for CommChoice.
debkotz wrote: That’s true. I was mainly addressing graduates who haven’t yet found employment with companies that offer health plans.
Are some birth-control pills riskier than others?
No question, birth-control pills have been deemed to be highly safe, but they can also cause side effects such as headaches, dizziness, and nausea, as well as rare complications such as strokes and blood clots. And the US Food and Drug Administration announced last week that it is investigating whether some versions of the pill — which contain varying doses of estrogen and varying types of progestin — pose a higher risk of blood clots than others.Turns out those that contain the progestin drospirenone — which include Yaz, Yasmin, and Beyaz — may be associated with a higher risk of blood clots, according to two recent studies from the Boston University School of Medicine. Blood clots can pose serious problems if they break off and travel through the bloodstream to the heart or lungs.
One of the studies published in April found that women ages 15 to 44 who took pills containing drospirenone over seven years had three times the risk of developing clots in their legs compared with those who took pills containing the progestin levonorgestrel. But the absolute risk was still very small — far less than 1 percent over the study period regardless of which pills the women took.
On the other hand, some women may want to play it safe and use a product that does not contain drospirenone. And women who smoke need to avoid oral contraceptives altogether since using the two in combination can dramatically raise the likelihood of blood clots. D.K.
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