Facebook Deactivation Agreement for $200 -- Is it worth or not?

According to some media reports; a concerned dad has promised to pay $200 to his 14-year-old daughter if she quit Facebook. According to the deal Paul Baier will pay $200 to his teenage daughter Rachel Baier for quitting Facebook for five months.

Facebook Deactivation Agreement between Paul Baier and Rachel Baier

The most interesting part of the deal is that it’s not a verbal deal but in black-n-white duly signed by both the parties – Paul Baier and Rachel Baier – with dates specified precisely.

The wording of the written deal, with Facebook logo on it, read as follows:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Facebook Deactivation Agreement

“I Rachel Baier agree to deactivate my Facebook Account from 2/4/13 to 6/26/13.

In return, my dad, Paul Baier, agrees to pay me $50 on 4/15/13 and $150 on 6/26/13. He/she will have access to my Facebook to change the password and to deactivate the account. This will prevent me from re-activating the account in the future.  I plan to use the money for the following purposes: stuff

Signed and agreed in full:

Rachel Baier                                                                Paul Baeir

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++   

It wasn't enough for the concerned Baul Baier, so he posted this “Facebook Deactivation Agreement” on his blog. In response to his posting he got some very interesting comments like:

One visitor ‘The Lark’ wrote ...

Hey Paul this is Mike Larkin from 1010 WINS radio station in New York City. We really love this story and want to interview either you or your daughter over the phone tonight. Let me know mlarkin@wins.com or 2123157090

And another visitor, RJS, commented ….

Great idea. I just read an online story about it. Perhaps, this will inspire other parents to do the same. Kudos, to you and your daughter!

Opinion:

For me the use of Facebook, the leading social media network in the world, is spreading like an addiction especially among youngsters. As we have heard all the way though our lives that “excess of everything is bad”, it also true for Facebook.

The increasing usage of Facebook among youngsters is not only hurting them psychologically, ethically and physically but it’s also hurting their studies and other social and physical activities.

I came across a shocking article “Facebook may be more dangerous than you think.” on Eye Guardian which states that half of all Americans are already on Facebook. The fastest growing segment of new users are pre-teens and teens. With over 250 million daily users, over 10 million of those are underage.

According to report; Sexting, cyber-bullying, online stalking are very common phenomena on Facebook, which are very difficult to handle by teens in most of the situations.

In short, when we allow underage kids onto sites such as Facebook - we are setting them loose on line to exposure to real life threats, child predators, inappropriate content and increased vulnerability to being involved in cyber bullying. We are putting our children in an unsafe situation.

The other point is by allowing our children to lie to open up a Facebook account, we are not sending them a good message. It’s okay to lie? It’s okay to lie about some things? According to the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, 38% of 12 year olds in the U.S. were using social networks in 2009. Perhaps it seems benign, right now, but the next step…just around the corner could be them lying about underage drinking.