"Can't drink, can't drive, but I've been podcasting and blogging for years..."
I was asked recently by a gentleman in the States to interact with his son, an 11-year-old aspiring sportscaster. He's got his own podcast (and it's quite good I might add), and under the supervision of his father talks about the national sports scene. Pretty cool, and I wish him all the best - and I'm very glad to see his dad taking an active role in his productions and career dreams.
But I started thinking about what the major liability concerns would be for underaged people getting involved in new media, supervised or not. Sure, you open yourself to flaming/criticism when blogging, and I'm assuming that most 'Netizens who routinely post honest criticism of someone's work might think twice before doing so if they knew the age of the person posting their thoughts; likewise, argumentation - harsh or not - over one's commentary might hurt a kid's feelings more than a mature person who accepts the fact that if you say it/write it on the Web, you open yourself up to global scrutiny. I don't want to make a sweeping generalization, but I'm sure most kids wouldn't react well to having their thoughts challenged/rejected by strangers. And I don't even want to think about the risk of being seen by online predators that a young contributor assumes when putting their stuff online.
For decades we've been able to control this...on TV, we can feature stories for/about/by kids, and we in the mainstream media directly managed who saw and said what, and to whom. But in the Age of Information interactivity runs amok, with practically anyone being able to communicate or connect with anyone else. I've had huge arguments with a certain co-worker of mine, when she has her kids do movie reviews for TV. I don't mind this going out by hr offspring over the air, sans the ability for people to interact with them directly. I'm OK with it being unidirectional. But when it comes time to post reviews on the Web, I strictly attributed her as the source of the review - not her kids. I just don't want to entertain feedback for kids, good or bad - and whether she truly understands why or not.
I think AOL requires either a certain age to post to its community blogs, or won't post the age of the blogger at all. Most forums/BBSes I've seen at least do the perfunctory "By clicking this link you admit that you're at least 13 years of age" thing before allowing access, so they get the legal liability out of the way. But what about people who do online guerilla marketing, promoting their media through iTunes, or community blog sites?
At what age is someone considered mature enough to get involved with and be responsible for the interactivity made possible by new media?