Can someone suggest an appropriate online social network for a 14 year old where he can discuss his views without much fear of being exposed to an inordinate amount of age inappropriate material?
Asked by
Rarebear (
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)
January 12th, 2010
My nephew is 14 and is having debates with cousins on Facebook about religion. He’s an atheist, and his cousin is a fundamentalist Christian. It’s starting to worry his parents that this debate is going to blow out of proportion and cause a rift in his family. They would like to point him to an appropriate social network where he can safely debate his views. Do you think Fluther is appropriate, or is there a more age appropriate forum?
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14 Answers
I would suggest him to give it a go. Soulpancake seems to be a medium aimed at that too. There are several 14 yo’s here already.
For the six days I’ve been here, I haven’t seen too much that I’d be concerned about my 14yr old (if I had one) seeing. They need to check it out for themselves and assess how much material they consider “inappropriate” in their view.
Trying really hard to stick to the question here…
@wonderingwhy You stuck to the question fine, thanks. He’s a bright kid, and he’s not sheltered by any means. And certainly “inappropriate” is subject to interpretation. What I mean by it is something that common sense would say that it’s inappropriate for a teenager. Nothing special.
@oratio Soulpancake is another online forum I take it?
@oratio Link didn’t work for me. I’ll try again later, thanks.
Correction. He’s 15, not 14.
@Rarebear hmmm… I’ve seen a handful of questions concerning sex, some pretty in depth stuff about loss, suicide, etc. that could be tough to handle, the occasional dirty limrick/cussing, but nothing worse than what I remember from school.
If anything, maybe some of the advice could be “inappropriate” simply because if taken out of context or if unable to consider how it relates beyond the typical teenage view of “woah, that’s cool!” I could see how it could cause some problems.
But if they’re well grounded and understand the need to consider things (bright, makes me think excellent start), I’d suspect it’s worth a shot.
I think Fluther is OK for a 14-year-old.
When I was 14, I was on a lightly-moderated Q&A site called AIROW. How do you think I felt having people tell me I was “disgusting” for being gay at the time I was trying to accept it? That was far more inappropriate than a question about cunnilingus. I could’ve done without that…oh well, I had a lot of supporters too, some of which are on Fluther today. :)
Fluther on the other hand is completely different. The high level of moderation and the intelligent users (and I know we have a 14-year-old member here, Tink1113) should be fine and it’s a great environment to be in. (However, not to be offensive, most of the people here are liberal. Not sure if that’s what he’s looking for).
The only thing I’d be concerned about would be him not being able to handle the high level of moderation. People used to “anything goes” sites might not be satisfied with this one.
My 14 and 15 year old daughters are here, and it’s been great for them. I recommend it!
@DominicX Funny you should say that most people are liberal. I haven’t found that to be true, but we all have different threshholds
@augustlan Thanks. That helps.
It depends on what you consider inappropriate. I would allow my 14 year old (if I had one) on here or any social site they wanted on. I am extremely against censorship though of any kind pretty much
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