Spies like us

I always seem to find something to read after clearing out the rubbish and old newspapers when recycling. This leads me on to a type of recycling of my own - old posts.

The following piece is from the South Wales Echo and just happens to have been published on the same day as I announced that Facebook had erased my account. After reading the following article, I suddenly realised that Mr Wagstaff will have to check Jnr's web activity when he's old enough to use a computer. My experience of Facebook may have been one of eradication, but at least the experience didn't go as far as another young mum of Cardiff. Brings a whole new meaning to the modern philosophy of "Every little helps".

CHILDREN as young as eight in South Wales are logging on to social network sites like Facebook, forcing concerned parents to go online to spy on them.

Thousands of schoolchildren claim to be using the popular sites, despite the minimum age for registration on the majority being 13. And nearly two thirds (60%) admit to posting personal information online, such as mobile phone numbers, addresses and where they go to school.

Fears over young social networkers have prompted two thirds (66%) of parents to take matters into their own hands by secretly logging on to their children’s networking page to snoop on them.

An astonishing 34% have even gone as far as setting up their own social networking page to spy on their children, according to research out today from online identity experts Garlik.

Today there were calls for the three biggest sites – Bebo, MySpace and Facebook – to take their age restriction policies more seriously.

But online experts say it is too easy for children to lie about their age on the internet, and instead urged parents and teachers to educate their children about the dangers of using websites for social networking.