Sorry guys, but it was much better as a college site, end of story. I don’t understand why grown-ups on Facebook become so angry at people who point this out.

Several of my child’s youth advisers at church are on facebook and are ‘friends’ of the church youth. Many of the unfortunate, sad and dangerous problems children (of all ages) get involved in are a direct result of too little involvement with the larger world, the larger community which has never been completely segregated.

Having a space that it is essential ‘kids only’ is dangerous because it sets kids up in a fake environment that they will never be able to duplicate in the ‘real’ world, which is where we all have to live and interact. While you may not wish for your parents to be able to see what you do and say to others, locking them out of the process eventually does you more harm than good. Kids need to want to grow up in our society which should mean, they want to learn and understand how to act; that won’t happen as easily and seamlessly if they are isolated from community, irl and on-line.

What about the (socially-seemingly rare – but how rare are they really?) families that actually get along? Perhaps cousins that span different age groups that like to keep in touch, or friends of different age groups? Grandparents and grandkids to get along? Why shouldn’t they be allowed to use facebook to facilitate this? Even if you restrict it to an age group, word can still get back to parents/adults (a sibling, or cousin, or friend who forgets to keep quiet about the party they’re going to).

What is the cut-off age for “anyone with children old enough to have their own Facebook”? Assume boys and girls on average start puberty around 11 or 12, and can therefore give birth to a kid at that age, by 18 (child would be age 6), or 24 (child would be age 12), you would be able to have a kid that could have their own Facebook (eg. they could have their own email account and could use a computer easily). So you’re suggesting facebook be open to people between the ages of 11 and 24.

And how would you tell people they have to leave at the age of 24? “Sorry, you’re too old. Get out.” I suspect there would be many people who would dislike being told such. I’ve got single, techno-trendy 30-something friends who are in love with facebook. They’re young, independent, free of responsibilities, and would hate to be told that they’re too “adult” to use facebook.

You do realize what you’re suggesting is segregation based on age? University and college is accessible to all age ranges. Even under the previous guidelines of Facebook, it would be open to all active students, which would include 70-something year old students.

Perhaps I’m biased, as just barely I fall into the range of “old enough to have a child to have their own Facebook”. If you’re so worried about your parents finding out what you’re doing, you can always find ways to circumvent them. Have multiple accounts, restrict what people can see. Even if you prevent older people from entering, what about the people who are already a part of it? What happens to them 5 years down the road? 10? 20? (assuming facebook lasts that long)

Who are you to say who belongs or doesn’t belong somewhere? Perhaps you’re hoping facebook to be a youth group. Perhaps facebook was originally meant to be more academically oriented (geared towards colleges and universities after all), and not the “omg! lol! i have toes! g2g” crowd its turned out to be. But it seems like the powers that be have said its open to all (more people == more money; it is a business after all). If you’re looking for a youth-only group, then I guess you’ll just have to work on your own site, get some good networking in (and a way to PROVE they belong to whatever age group it is that you have in mind), stay away from money making (even though servers for millions of people will drain your wallet), and remember to kick yourself out when you hit the age limit you’ve imposed. Good luck.

I understand you’d like to keep parents/”adults” out, but I think any implementation would be flawed.