Ginger Weldon's Facebook
Yes, it’s true. I had some extra time this afternoon after I got off work and what did I do with my extra 45 minutes, I created a Facebook for my dog. It’s a big joke of course and I’m going to delete it soon. I just thought it would add a little laugh to your day, some of you anyway.
BUT, while we are on the subject, I was made aware that Facebook is getting younger and younger. The social networking site was created for college students and has moved down into high school years back. Legally you have to be 13 years old to have a Facebook, but that doesn’t stop anyone who wants to create an account. All you have to do is lie about your birth year and you are in. Even recently I have been made aware of some elementary school students who have a Facebook. I think that is too young.
Many of the middle schoolers in our youth group have one or the other more immature Myspace. I say that, because if you have both, which I do, you can tell a difference in the two by simply looking at the posts from friends. I added a MySpace years back because it was a way to communicate with the students I work with. Little did I know it would become a tool that would open my eyes to things unseen a church. I had to learn how to deal with the things I saw. I’ll admit I didn’t handle them well at first, micromanaging their every little blog and post. Now, I try to use those times as teachable moments for the students I pastor and lead. Some take it well, while others don’t. As the popularity of Facebook grows, more and more of the Myspace friends cross over to Facebook, I am about convinced that I’m ready to delete the MySpace account anyway.
A recent report put out by Kaiser Family Foundation just in the last week has shown where on average students are spending more time on media than 5 years ago when the study first ran. You can look at the full report here and download (http://learningmylines.blogspot.com/2010/01/finally-latest-on-kids-and-media.html) a brief summary of it from Walt Mueller, who I consider to be one of the leading people in youth culture today. You could branch off with several discussions from this article, so if you have something to add please feel free to leave some comments. I just think we need to draw up some borders with respect to media use and limit the age of those who use it. As a parent, I make sure that I have rules in place before the issues ever come up so that I know how to answer the questions and comments posed by my children. What ever happened to playing on the playground?
Well in conclusion, you can either add my dog to your Facebook page or not I don’t care. She already has 7 friends now and a few pictures.
DId God Really Say... 