People over twelve should be allowed to use social networking sites.

Thanks to Con for his points; I'll respond.Contention One: ConnectivityMy opponent suggests that there are other, better ways to communicate with people. There are, indeed, alternatives to SNS, called SMS! (Short Messenger Service). However, my opponent seems to suggest that Apple's SMS or Kik "are not dangerous or threatening to children."This, it saddens me to say, is simply not true. Sub-Contention One: Apple's SMSWhile it is possible to block numbers on an iPhone running iOS6 or iOS7 - messages are almost always one off from a random number sending scams. Thus, it is difficult to effectively stop scammers. And there are scammers on Apple's SMS.[1][5] I've provided some source pictures to show what I mean.[2][3] While these are not so much child based; they still pose a threat to children following the inks back. Sometimes these advertise porn messages of famous people. Of course, it is largely the same scam but it is not appropriate and dangerous for a child. Sub-Contention Two: KikKik is very dangerous to children and ripe with stalkers. Often the stalkers are either posing as underage of just teenagers acting in an inappropriate manner.[4] As McAfee put it:"What do you know about the people your kids are chatting with on Kik? Not much besides a user name, full name, image and an email, none of which can be verified. So how do you know if your kids are talking to kids their own age, friends, or stalkers and other predators hiding their identity? You don’t."[6]There are loads of stories on the dangers of Kik; here's another review[7].OK, but what about Facebook? That's dangerous, too...?True, Facebook can be misused. Everything can, after all. But Facebook is a lot safer, mainly due to its privacy settings and control it gives you. For example, this amount of control is for pictures alone![10] It is safer and more effective than Kik and I would argue that Apple messenger is very limited. You can send messages and pictures but no one ever makes a fully-fledged profile with the family on something like Apple-messenger. Facebook gives you that control and privacy more than any other SNS. Contention Two: Tools! My opponent's response is a straw man here. I was not talking specifically about Twitter opinions; although that was part of it. I'm talking that SNS such as Twitter allow you to get very short and honest opinions from many different people. True, they can be faked, but there is rarely a reason to do so. Family members can give opinions, too. You're very limited by this, however and there are not legitimate reasons to stop people who are 13+ using these sites. On the age aspect:Clearly SNS cannot judge people's maturity but that is the point of the parents. I am not against age recommendations. Indeed, I even made that one of the aspects of SNS that had to be met or this debate! Opponent's Contention One: MaturityI addressed this in my opening contentions and my opponent hasn't responded to it adequately. Yes, there is a trend to be more mature as you age but I mentioned that anything too specific (say 15 vs 16) is a correlation vs causation fallacy. I pointed out that we needed specific data to avoid the fallacy and my opponent hasn't provided any. Thanks to my opponent! I'll see you next round!Source(s):[1]http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com...[2]http://sophosnews.files.wordpress.com...[3]http://www.faronics.com...[4] http://www.lostweens.com...[5]http://onlineinvestigations.com.au...[6]http://blogs.mcafee.com...[7] http://www.bewebsmart.com...