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.
