What is the right age for kids to get their own email/IM?

Answer 1

I teach 1st grade and think that once kids go to school, they can use an email address and look stuff up on the web. With lots of parental supervision. My daughter has one that is part of ours. Yahoo lets users create sub accounts. She started using it at about 8 years old. She looked up stuff for school and went to websites of things she liked. Disney has a particularly good web site. She loved getting e-mails from me and people she knew. She is 13 now and still has it. Yahoo has good parental controls. I did have to make her a teen at the custom level so she could go to some web sites. I closely monitor her activity. I turned off the IM stuff because she was abusing her priviledges. Doing it instead of her chores or homework. I told her if she wants to chat with her friends, there is always the phone. Other than that we have had no problems with her having her own e-mail.

Answer 2

12

Answer 3

13 or 14

Answer 4

13

Answer 5

I think at the age of 11 for email and IM at the age of 16.

Answer 6

Kids are the right age for their own email and IM accounts when you trust them enough to let them talk with as many people online as you do, you know them well enough to know they are responsible, and they know enough about the world to keep themselves safe from online predators. All of us parents like not having to think of those things, but its real. One police officer spent several months talking with a young girl online and over those months, she mentioned that she played soccer, her school, and a few other details that allowed him to not only find her home town, but he found her town, name, game schedule, and even went to her next game and followed her home where he had a very long talk with her parents and this girl. Things like that happen everyday, only it isn't usually a police officer trying to help you, it's a pedofile. When you and your child have talked enough to know that they won't give any personal info, ever, then they are the right age.

Answer 7

I would say for IM whenever the parents trust them to make the right decisions. Strangers may IM them and they may not make the proper judgement to keep their personal information private, not meet people, etc. There are also age restrictions of 13 or older on most of these services because of the child protection laws.

Answer 8

its good when kinda get to know how to use computer/internet early on and it aids their typing skills.. within a few years time of using email/IM they should be able to type without hardly looking at the keyboard.. there are obviously drawbacks tho to letting them use internet early on because theres so much stuff out there and if theyre not responsible and educatdded enough about the internet, they may not use it right...
I know that when i was around like 13 i would go on random chatting sites and although i was always taught never to give out personal info (always use fake name, country, etc) you're still taking chances..
but all in all, once u think ur kid is responsible enough to use the internet to their advantage, i know that i always put it to good use, it is so informative to me and im really good and searching for things and the like!
xx

Answer 9

My kids are 8 and 5 and have their own email. They think it is fun, but they need me to do it. The girl who babysits for me is 13 and has IM and a myspace account. If her parents knew what she was doing..........

Answer 10

like 10