bobberela

Grace Bobber ELA4 November 29, 2010 Facebook – Dangerous or Helpful? In the hectic classroom atmosphere, Charlie Smith takes a moment to stop and study his usually upbeat classmate who is purposefully separating herself from the group. Charlie wonders, “What has Vanessa Jones so troubled?”, and he even tries to talk to her. “Vanessa, what’s wrong? Are you okay? Can I do anything to help?” But Vanessa just remains aloof and refuses to answer. Later at home, Charlie is so desperate to find out what has Vanessa worried that he decides to check her Facebook page. There is where he finds that she has posted that her mother has been diagnosed with cancer. Even though she is too ashamed to tell him face-to-face, she is willing to let the world know through Facebook, maybe even hoping that someone cares enough to comfort her. This is one example of how Facebook can not only be a great way to keep in contact with classmates, family members, and other friends, but can also be an unexpected way to learn important insights about a person. A whopping 517,760,460 users talked on Facebook as of October 7th, 2010. That is nearly 7% of the entire world’s population! Facebook can be a great way to communicate with friends and family, but when do parents, teachers, and other adults in charge draw the line for when Facebook becomes dangerous, especially to young teens? In the United States, nearly 55% of people ages thirteen to seventeen have a Facebook account. Of that 55%, most parents were aware that their child had that account. According to the site, technically, you must be thirteen years or older to be allowed an account. So does that mean all thirteen-year-olds (as well as older teens) can decide on their own if they should have an account? I believe so. Most thirteen-year-olds are responsible, hard-working kids who have been through dangerous situations before, such as staying home alone (nearly 7%, or 2.1 million, of children ages seven through thirteen stay home on a regular basis), taking the bus to and from school alone, or meeting adults alone in certain situations. If the kids promise to put schoolwork first all the time and not communicated with anyone they did not know, should not any thirteen-year-old be allowed a Facebook?