Lately, I have been working with elementary students through our Digital Citizenship curriculum. Of course, part of this curriculum is about online safety, bullying, and other worries through social media. In continuing my research around COPPA and CIPA laws I have started to wonder about the 13 year old age limit that has been determined to be the cut off for those who are and are not able to use social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, and the like. For example, Facebook states that no user may have an account or have an account made for them by an adult if they are under 13 years of age, as shown here.

Instagram also clearly states in their first term that users must be 13 years of age.

But there is no graduation to this level. There is no scaffolding or built-in support and I wonder why. For example, in Canada and…