Many parents prefer to keep this door tightly shut.
My niece is 25 years old and she does not use Facebook.
She never posts anything and never exposes her thoughts. The account is used for the sole purpose of tracking information the old ones, like myself and her parents, trustfully provide to the platform to keep and, well, use as the targeting of the massive ad revenue network.
While the majority of people in the World do have accounts on Facebook or WhatsApp and Instagram, many young Internet users prefer to spend their time on other services like Snapchat, TikTok, or even Twitter.
The main reason — the format does not fit their needs.
It is loaded with political discussions, advertisements for cheap food markets, and quick IQ tests everybody takes but nobody really needs. Lack of creative viral tools, limited self-expression abilities, and a lot of controversies, Facebook has seen during recent years, keeps youngsters out of the social platform.
But we, the old folks, do not care anymore. We are deep in this mess. There are many resources out there that help in finding out what global platforms know about us. And you know what? We are fine with it!
I can live with social networks keeping the list of my friends, sites I have visited, the places I’ve checked in, and the companies I’ve worked for.
I don’t care until it comes to my children. This is where the red line is drawn.
A couple of days ago Facebook has launched its Messenger Kids service in 70 countries after being available in North America since 2017.
The countries list includes Afghanistan, Barbados, Bolivia, and Nepal but stays away from Europe.
Some say it is the result of higher regulations Europe has as of data related to children.
As it comes to communication with their kids or between children themselves, especially ages 13 and below, parents come to trust nobody and prefer limiting communication services at all.
WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger have no parental control and children get approached by total strangers.
Some parents block children’s access to mobile devices “until you are grown up and can afford your personal phone”, they install parental control and tracking tools while some decide to follow more creative ways with developing or joining alternative services they trust.My 8yo daughter asked to create an app so she could never miss my messages
She’s 9yo now and we have a second version in the Storemedium.comSocializing in the times of COVID-19
Rethinking basic life-keeping techniques is occupying our minds these days. Keeping connected with friends and family…medium.com
