The post cites a report from app development and research firm Dubit stating that 93 percent of 6- to 12-year-olds in the US have access to tablets or smartphones, and 66 percent have their own device. Antigone Davis, Facebook's Public Policy Director and Global Head of Safety, published a post about it this week on Facebook's new Hard Questions (Opens in a new window) page (announced earlier this year in response to controversies such as online hate speech and Russian election interference on Facebook).įor better or worse, Facebook's primary reasoning simply leans into the trend: kids are already regularly using social media apps. Facebook has been working on Messenger Kids for the last 18 months, working closely with child development experts, educators, parents, and organizations including the National PTA and Blue Star Families. I asked a few Facebook representatives about this at the holiday party, and it's definitely something the company is and should be thinking about. The bigger question with an app like this is more philosophical what is the impact of introducing social media to kids at a young age? We still haven't studied the full effects of how being raised with technology at your fingertips affects behavioral and cognitive development. Read on for a look at what the app can do, what Messenger Kids is missing, and how Facebook is grappling with the effects apps like these have on a generation of digital natives growing up in front of screens. Parents control the contacts and have their own Messenger Kids dashboard in their regular Facebook app.Īt Facebook's annual holiday party in New York this week, I got a hands-on look at Facebook Messenger Kids and insight into why Facebook built the app the way it did. From that standpoint, this week's preview release of the new Facebook Messenger Kids app isn't surprising.Ĭurrently available only as an iOS app on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, Facebook Messenger Kids includes much of the same functionality as Facebook Messenger and Facebook Stories (previously called Messenger Day): messaging, video chat, GIFs and stickers, and plenty of face filters. Kids are now growing up with a technological ubiquity we haven't experienced before. They even made an Instagram for the family dog, complete with clever captions. ![]() They built vast worlds in Minecraft, sent silly iMessages to their friends, and played with all the new Snapchat face filters. By that point, however, they already had years of tech and social media experience playing with their parents' iPhones and tablets. ![]() My two young cousins got their first smartphones in fifth grade at ages 10 and 11, along with the majority of their classmates. How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill.How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad.How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages.
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