Over the weekend, Facebook announced a new initiative targeted at a specific group of people. This group is kids. They launched a new addition of the messenger app that is strictly designed and marketed to kids between the ages of 6 and 12.
With this new app, Facebook includes ways for kids to chat with their friends, send age appropriate GIFs, and video chat. Many adults feel like this could be a big problem, however, Facebook wants you to know they are trying to make it as safe as possible.
They have included certain safeguards on the app to keep kids safe. One of these precautions includes having parents sign up their children. The parent must approve who their child is allowed to chat with and the child will not be able to be searched for added privacy. Along with this, unlike an adult’s Facebook, little data will be taken from children and they will not be able to view advertisements.
With this new app, Facebook hopes that they will help solve parent’s concerns of safety online and give kids a new and safe option to communicate with one another.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/04/technology/facebook-messenger-kids-app/index.html
As for this app, I think if they want to protect their children, the app need strengthen age certification. It can make sure the people who used this app is children from 6 to 12. It is because some pedophilia may use this app to commit a crime. Even though the Facebook can monitor their chat, I think people can change the world to evade the monitor.
And the second problem is I do not think the children at 6 need use chat app communicate with their friends. They can meet their friends every day. So from I opinion, I do not think this app is good.
It’s weird that the messaging element of Facebook was split into a different app in the first place. It’s inefficient and cumbersome to have to open a different app, even if you’re already in Facebook, to message your friends. It’s not a paid app, and there’s already enough ads on the base app, so it doesn’t make much sense why this was done. Now the development of a separate app targeted towards kids takes advantage of this split, as one doesn’t need to deal with anything other than the messaging element with this. Kids are growing up differently these days. The easy access to social media and instant communication/gratification can have negative developmental effects, and this will create an even more accessible and “sensible” option for that to continue. It’s a great business decision that takes advantage of a very broad and always needy demographic, but parents should be wary.
My first thought when reading this article is that if I were a parent, I would never download this app for my child. I found it very alarming that 90% of children 6-12 have easy access to smart devices, and that 2 out of 3 of them in fact have there own. Not only does this access granted by parents cause behavioral issues, is linked to child obesity, and sleep problems; but with Messenger Kids there is the issue of safety as well. Will messages be monitored? Fake accounts are made all the time on Facebook, how will identities be verified? Accounts often get hacked, if the parents account gets hacked, will the child’s as well? I see this as a avenue to lead to bullying as well. Parent’s may be friends but that does not mean children are, now there is the possibility of bulling through messaging that typically isn’t happening till a much older age. Another safety concern is the advertisements. I know that the article says there will be none, however, it is a free app. Facebook, a free app, originally had no ads but s popularity grew ads were introduced in order to turn profit. Another foreseeable problem is that apps like this will potentially limit children’s face-to-face interaction. No longer will play dates or going outside be apart of their normal life, instead sending texts and sitting inside will take center stage. Technology and social media has a huge impact on how children interact which can cause mental and emotional distress as well as have an affect on their ability to process information critically. Personally I am surprised that Facebook is going into this market. A different prominent social media app, Snapchat, attempted this a few years ago. However, there proved to be little interest so it gained no traction and was shortly disbanded after words. I understand that facebook is silly trying to expand their market, however, just because they can expand does not mean they should.
https://journal.thriveglobal.com/will-technology-ruin-your-childrens-development-663351c76974
I’m not sure how I feel about this idea. Although it is very interesting to see that Facebook is now trying to appeal to a new age group, I’m not sure they are taking the right approach. I think I’m a bit more curious about what these children will be able to do through messenger. Will they be able to video call? Will their messages be censored? If I was a parent I would be very concerned with this new messenger app. With the creation of social networking and new technologies it makes it much easier for people to connect, but it also makes it much easier for people to hide behind a screen, saying and doing whatever they want. This is what scares me. From my past experience, when signing up for websites, it is extremely easy to forge a birth date. Therefore, I’m not sure if there will be a way for parents to actually monitor this system. In addition, I think that 6 years old is a very young age to be relying on social media to connect with friends. 6 year old should be out with their friends or on play fates, not sitting inside chatting with people from class. The world is changing, and I’m not sure if its for the better or the worse. Im interested in seeing how this new application turns out.
I feel like making a platform where messaging is targeted at kids and it is KNOWN to be for kids is risky. My first question is about facebook advertisements, will this messaging app also have advertisements? In the article it says no, but how long will that last if this is a free app? If advertisers are eventually allowed on, they will gear messages towards children who will be more susceptible to see them through this app. Another question is how will they monitor who is joining the app, is there going to be an age limit? Can someone who is 40 be on this and message younger kids? I feel like there needs to be a lot of restrictions placed on this for it to get any type of approval from parents or for it to even be safe to use.
I don’t know if this is a great idea. Maybe I am just biased because I never instant messaged my friends at that young of an age and video chatted. Six just seems extremely young to me personally maybe the youngest age I would say to have is ten. But whatever happened to good ole play dates. There is just to much risk for reward in trying to implement this. Each and each generation seems to access social media and messaging younger and younger which I don’t believe is the best of ideas but with technology becoming more and more available and affordable it is bound to happen. But as I said I would definitely veer away from this idea. But with certain precautions and parental supervision it could work if they practice what they preach. And the idea of Facebook storing some of children’s data just seems to creepy for my liking.
How could we possibly trust Facebook to monitor kid’s discussion on facebook? We would be relying on algorithms that search out for abusive material or inappropriate language. But even with electronic monitors, I believe you can still manipulate language in a way that a computer or software may not be able to pick up on. For example, there are “slang” words, abbreviations and even tones of voice like sarcasm. This would make monitoring of kid’s conversatios very difficult.
Also, I question if this draws a line with privacy as well… Is the police allowed to open up private messages between 2 kids or is that invasion of our rights? What punishments / laws regarding cyber abuse will be implemented?
Advertising towards children usually is a deceitful sales tactic that pressures parents into purchasing electronics, toys, and other products due to their kids constant nagging of them about it.Though It doesn’t ever seem ethical to make social media products geared towards children, I believe Facebook is doing the right thing for emphasizing that their messenger is kid safe. I don’t think I was using instant messengers before the age of 10, but as technology progresses I would assume kids that of younger and younger ages are becoming accustom to these forms of communication. Maybe I wasn’t using an instant messenger because of the lack of kid friendly options. With the widespread brand recognition of Facebook, it would be a great resource for parents who approve of their kids social media use to know somewhere their kid can chat safe. A concern I would have is that it does not feel right with me to encourage less face-to-face communication amongst kids who are not even in their teens, I think childhood could be enjoyed naturally with limited electronic interaction. Also, I do not know of anyway to actively monitor video messaging so that it would keep kids safe, but maybe Facebook will surprise us with a new innovation that can do this.