Young children that are exposed to social networking websites such as Facebook could learn how to read and write quicker and have an edge on their classmates. According to recent research, over a million children under the age of six uses Facebook, even though the age limit is 13 years old. Dr Ahmar Mahboob, a senior lecturer at Sydney University’s linguistics department notes that if you allow children to use Facebook in moderation, it can help promote learning and development. This observation is based on the fact that when children use Facebook, they are interacting with another person and receiving language input from their peers.
A big problem, however, is the safety of children in social networking. The age limit of 13 is not set by Facebook themselves, but rather by the Federal government. The vast majority of people polled about the age limit agree that children too young can face many dangers using websites like Facebook. Of course, Facebook use at such a young age should be moderated and also not be a substitute for parental and school socialization.
Who would have known social networking can be a good way to promote literacy?
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