So, I decided that I would solve my own problem, and hopefully, help out other families in the process. I believe that this leads them to prioritize the needs of advertisers-often to the detriment of their users. And I believe that transformation in the user experience all ties back to their company values. Today, I do not trust their motivations because they’re a platform that’s optimized for growth above all else. (I remain convinced that was the sole purpose for the game Farmville.)Īfter a while, content became more polarizing and I started to feel like I wasn’t getting the same value out of it that I used to. But somewhere along the way, the predominant Facebook experience became less about connection and more about engagement and amassing as many “friends” as possible. When I first used the platform way back when, I found it was a decent way to connect with family and friends who were far away. But when I looked at the available options for kids messengers, Facebook was the only option and that was an immediate non-starter.īack in the day, I think Facebook did offer something novel to the world. This, unfortunately, also put me in a tricky spot as a parent: technology is going be a major part of my kids’ lives, and I wanted to be able to give them access to it. They’ve demonstrated a disregard for their users’ privacy over and over (and over) again, and I knew that their values didn’t align with my own. Even before they effectively turned Messenger Kids into a social network for children, I didn’t want my daughter to use it because I simply don’t trust the company. And, in order for children to access Facebook Messenger Kids, their parents also need to have an active adult account.Īll of this is why I’m wary of the network-and why I’ve never considered putting my own young children on the platform. And while it’s true that Messenger Kids is ad-free, it’s not a huge logical leap to assume that this kids’ product exists to train the next generation of adult users. In general, the company wants its adult users to spend copious amounts of time on the platform because that gives them the chance to show more ads and generate more revenue. This shouldn’t be surprising, since Facebook’s number one goal has always been to have as many daily active users as possible. This time, however, Facebook has intentionally opened up the Messenger Kids network to encourage kids to amass more contacts. Back in 2019, a “ technical error” allowed thousands of kids to connect with unauthorized users. And this is the first time that the tech giant’s platform has exposed kids to strangers. And second, the change makes it easier for kids to connect with people they don’t know. While parents need to opt in to allow their kids to be visible to their friend’s contacts, by default, kids can now see who their friends are connected with-and experience all the FOMO that goes along with that. This new feature is off-putting for a few reasons: First, Facebook rolled the change out automatically.