What’s an 8-year-old doing on Facebook?

Last week my eight year-old nephew sent me a friend request on Facebook. To say the least, I was very shocked to receive it. Shocking still for me was the fact that his thirty four and forty eight year-old aunties were his friends on Facebook.
I immediately called the younger of the two aunties to ask why she accepted his request or how it is that she is friends with him on Facebook (in case she sent him a request). She said, he invited her and she accepted. Her excuse, “He probably does homework or games on it. It’s not a big deal since he is using his mum’s phone she can monitor him.” Unbelievable, but true! Sharing the experience with respondents, this is what they had to say.
A mother of one and window blind seller at Utako market, Mrs. Morenikji Alao said, even though he maybe using it for school work how can she ascertain that it is all he uses it for? “In any case, what school work is he doing on Facebook that he can’t do via any of the search engines? Her response goes to show you the non-chalant attitude on the part of a lot of parents. It is one of two things; we either take these things for granted and/or, then downplay the impact they may have on our kids or we simply couldn’t be bothered.
The Wuse Zone 7 resident said “It’s a serious issue and one that should be addressed immediately and appropriately. If he is telling lies already and can’t come up to say where or how exactly he got to register on Facebook, his parents should be very worried. This is also call for parents to be more alert and not leave their phones, iPads, or other such gadgets laying about the house.”
Mr. Paul Bala, a marketing consultant, said he didn’t blame the children for their use of such gadgets. “As a parent and having a son that age, it’s amazing the complex the kids who are not exposed or have limited exposures to these gadgets develop. My kids are not allowed to watch television on school days. On such days between my wife and I, we do other very relaxing and fun educational stuff online.”
The father of two added that, “But every now and again, my son nudges his younger sister to ask us if they could play some games or watch certain programmes that they are not allowed to. On other occasions I hear him narrating to her stories from those programs or games his classmates have told him. He makes some remarks that imply we are being mean by not allowing them that leisure. I initially brushed it off but when it continued I had to sit him down and explain why we have such a routine for them.”
Angela Obasi said there is no excuse why a primary school pupil should have unguided internet use. “But again in today’s in Nigeria we parents find it cool to let other people know how good our kids are with the internet and computer. The younger they are, the more presentable they are to show off and the more pride we feel.”
The secondary school teacher said, “It is amazing the things you here these children discuss when they talk about their findings on these sites. It was initially shocking for me to find out that most of them gain access using their parents’ gadgets. I called the attention of a parent whose son was the ringleader providing or the sleazy information. The immediate response from them was even if he didn’t get the information from their gadgets he would get it some other way.”
Dr. Emman Shehu said his “initial reaction is that it is typically Nigerian to overlook extant laws especially if we want to show off like the neighbours. Several of the social media platforms do not encourage minors to sign-on and parents have a responsibility to explain this rule to their children and in turn monitor them if they willing give them gadgets that enable them to get on the internet.”
The director of the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ), said, “Even the fact that their children can get on the internet should get parents concerned because of the diversity of material available online. What it means is additional parenting responsibility and it goes with the times, no getting away from it,” he concluded.