- (Illustration: 1a20.com)
How desperate Facebook is today. Since its decline of by the end of 2013. The deliberate act of signing of for good by users will reach 80% by the end of 2015. And it would leave an empty and hollow site as Friendster had (see further on my article Like Friendster, Will We Say Goodbye to Facebook?). And seems that Facebook are alert of such decline. They now are declaring to suck in children under 13 years old to open a Facebook account. Children are being prey to the monstrosity of being social in the internet. And by far has confined children in a world called 'social'. Where children are actually alienated in Facebook. Facebook is fastening its pace to lure children to open an account 'legally'.
And on Thursday (June 29, 2014) a Facebook spokesperson said they had filed a patent of application that allowed children to open an account behalf of parents' consent. Though it triggers discredit. The application had been filed in US Patent Office. And the file had been registered since November 2012. It is explained that the application will allow a strict supervision from children's parents. Their children's account in Facebook thus is being watched and scrutinized on daily basis. And their parents will be advice directly by Facebook if anything goes 'wrong'.
"Child safety advocates, policymakers and companies have discussed how best to help parents keep their kids safe online," said a Facebook spokesperson in a statement sent to the Guardian. "Like any responsible company, we looked at ways to tackle this issue, but a patent application based on two-year-old research is not a predictor of future work in this area." (read: theguardian.com)
As Children Become 'Social' in Facebook
Though in fact many children without any their parents' consent made Facebook account. Such 'improvement' Facebook try to apply in the forthcoming application for children have highlighted much concern. This application will solely tell parents that it is OK for your children to be in Facebook. As long as parents' have oversight on the account, everything will be OK. Unfortunately, for many parents they will not have time 'socializing' in Facebook. Children have much time playing, while their parents work.
And if there will be something 'wrong' with their children being 'social' in Facebook. And Facebook report to parents that the mischief of being social force the children's account to be shut off. The children will simply whine and ask their parents to start a new account once more. It's that simple for children. Especially for parents who spoiled their children. This will harvest problem in the future I think. And children will simply do anything fun in Facebook. Though it might seen as harmful, like playing games that requires in-apps purchase. Parents will spend a lot of money paying such entertainment. And this had happened to Google Play, and parents are putting law suit against this. (read: Google Hit With Lawsuit Over Children's In-App Purchases, Mashable)
In addition, children under 13 who are supposed to play outside and dwell with friends, are alienated by such Facebook application. As there will be their parents' permission to be in Facebook, children would simply love being 'social'. And their time will probably spend searching, chatting or even playing games in Facebook. Children will be succumbed to their Facebook account.
Surely such 'disastrous' phenomenon will take away the children's innate behavior. To play outside and explore the world, will probably happen. They will be forced to dwell inside a box named the internet. And will loose the sense of playing with friends or quarreling with peers. The actual life skills to life will be intentionally replaced by Facebook. The actual world will be replaced by the placebo of having fun in the social world called Facebook. It is where children actually interact with machine or human played as machine. It is where interaction is merely a stimulus-response action. It is not the real world where children interaction is complex and unique.
Should Children and Parents In Indonesia Be Aware of This?
It is likely so. Unfortunately, the improvement in technology does not goes well with the parents' concern and awareness. The internet which grows faster than the awareness and concern of its users in Indonesia, has actually crippled Indonesian people. They can have the technology at their disposal, but only few recognize and actually concern of issues derived from the internet. Sadly, there are over 30 million Indonesian children and adolescent in the internet today. As it is a report from UNICEF and Ministry of Communication and Informatics of Indonesia.
Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informatika bersama UNICEF mengungkapkan 30 juta anak-anak dan remaja di Indonesia merupakan pengguna internet. Sementara itu, media digital telah menjadi pilihan utama saluran komunikasi yang digunakan.
Studi yang didanai oleh UNICEF dan dilaksanakan oleh Kementerian Kominfo ini menelusuri aktivitas online dari sampel anak dan remaja usia 10-19 (sebanyak 400 responden) yang tersebar di seluruh Indonesia dan mewakili wilayah perkotaan dan pedesaan. (berita: merdeka.com)
And for sure, this should be a public and government concern. As in the case of Facebook children 'safety' application, parents in Indonesia should divert their children perspective of the social media. What should be defined as social is the actual playing and interacting in real world. Though Facebook offer a fantastic world to explore, just remember that children is naturally should play outside. They should see and learn in their own way about the actual world. And it should not be the social world of internet or even Facebook.
Parents should explain to their children that the internet is only a helping tool for us, human. And it is not the place where we actually live. And parents should be their children guide and friend at the same time. Introduce children to the world the actually life and dwell in forever. And Facebook, it is nothing but a place to play games.
Regards,
Solo, June 4 2014
11:08 am
(reblogged from Kompasiana, 4 Juni 2014, 01:57 pm)
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