Last Monday, Facebook launched their Messenger Kids app, the-kid friendly, parent-moderated version of their popular Facebook messenger feature. Messenger Kids is a stand alone app aimed at kids ages six through thirteen that parents with a Facebook account can set up for their kids. Facebook has stated that the Messenger Kids app will not have ads, which is great, but the bottom line is, as RT.com says, “The app is part of a strategic effort by Facebook to increase the number of people who rely on its service to connect with others regularly.”
So many of us adults rely on Facebook, and now Facebook wants us to rely on it even more heavily to communicate with our kids and to facilitate communication between our kids and their friends.
I don’t need to be more reliant on Facebook than I already am. I would much much rather be less reliant on Facebook, actually. But that’s just about the least important of the reasons my kids will not be on Messenger Kids.
The real reason is that my kids don’t need another form of technology to get addicted to.
From everything I’ve read it appears that Messenger Kids’ creators have put lots of safeguards in place to make sure that Messenger Kids actually is safe for our children. For instance, all new friend requests come to the parents’ Facebook account instead of to the kids’ messenger account. And if your child wants to communicate with another child, you must be Facebook friends with that child’s parent before you can add them.
