How young is too young for children to use social media?

Age may well just be a number, but it’s no secret that pre-teen years are the most impressionable times of ones life. Combine an easily influenced age with the rise of online bullying and the question of how young is too young for social media is one hot topic.

So much so, that even Prince William himself has addressed fears of his children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte as future instances of trolling at a recent conference.

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“As Catherine and I started our family a few years ago, I was alarmed about the increasing reports of online bullying that were making headlines around the world,” he said.

But, with social media currently such a hot commodity, tweens are determined to sign up and broadcast their lives to friends, acquaintances – and often strangers – from an early age.

We’ve chatted with Susan McLean, Director of Cyber Safety Solutions about her views on what age children are mature enough to handle social media – and the bullying that consequently comes along with it.

“Children are prohibited from using all SM and IM apps until at least the age of 13 years. Even at 13 year of age, children need advice, support and supervision to provide anything less is erroneous,” says McLean. “It is both your responsibility and that of your child to read the T and C and then obey what age is listed. Children must learn that lying online is not a good thing to do and can get you into a lot of trouble.”

McLean encourages parents not to give into their child’s insistence. "Don’t be fooled by a fun interface and the ‘everyone else has it’, argument. Be proactive, be the parent and be educated," she says.

Once a parent has decided that their child is mature enough to be online there are threats that they must be aware of.

“Cyber bullying is often the number one non-academic issue confronting schools on a daily basis. The online sexual solicitation of children is the fastest growing crime of its type in the world so risks to both are very real. Parents must understand that the internet is NOT a child’s playground and there must be both education, rules and supervision,” McLean warns.

Predators are very good at what they do and kids will not realise what is happening until too late. Other issues relating to the internet include identity theft, pressure to send ‘nudes’ or naked selfies and excessive or problematic internet use.”

Every child’s maturity level is different, so there can not be a hard, across the board, age set where children are automatically deemed old enough to use Social Media. However, once a parent has made the decision to allow their child to use social networking sites, there’s a few things they can do to monitor their child’s usage and privacy.

“Security settings on SM do not work unless you use them so if your child is on any SM or IM app you need to be there with them, that means setting up an account as well,” recommends McLean.

“You must also ensure that all the security settings are used. Ensure that you are attached to all their accounts but understand that you might not see every online interactions. Open and honest communication is the key to parenting in the digital space.”