THE use of social media by children should be strictly monitored by parents and guardians.
These were the words of the head of the Fiji Police’s Cyber Crime Unit, Inspector Epeli Veimosoi, following concerns raised by members of the public where schoolchildren were creating pages of their own on social networking sites, particularly Facebook, and posting their personal details on it.
He said social media was a positive tool but because of the fact that any child could create an account by falsifying their age, and users being able to create fake accounts to make contact with them, “is why we continue to call for more supervision”.
He said they had been conducting awareness programs to address the issue.
Mr Veimosoi said cases already reported had involved young children who had been in contact with people who owned fake accounts and had gone to the extent of meeting those account holders.
“Considering the fact that you really can’t verify the true identity of an account holder, it is always best to err on the side of caution and ensure we prevent our children from featuring on such sites.”
He said people needed to work together to ensure our children’s activities on such social media sites was closely monitored.
“Once a report is received, an investigation can be conducted,” Mr Veimosoi said.
Fijian psychologist Selina Kuruleca said Facebook was a great communication and networking resource, but if it was used as a way to measure how one was doing, as in comparing oneself and achievements with others could have a negative effect.
She said parents should monitor their children when they accessed social network sites.
