Lately, we have decided to enforce the age requirement for our site. The age requirement has been in effect since the inception of the site; however, we became lax in enforcing it, and found ourselves in the uncomfortable position of having to ask minors (under the age of 18) to leave the site.
Why do we even have this policy? Several reasons:
-- Try as we might, we cannot protect people from predators online. There are people who come into this site wanting money, sex and things other than recovery. We can and do follow through on complaints when we receive them, but it is impossible for us to know what happens in private chat.
-- People over the age of 18 who engage in private conversations with others about personal issues do so by mutual consent. Generally, people under the age of 18 are more trusting and may be pulled into this type of conversation without realizing the danger it could represent.
-- Not everyone online is what they seem to be. We have all heard the stories of predators who pose as teenagers. We have no way of knowing if someone is who they claim to be, except by their actions. One young person hurt by a predator is far more than we are willing to tolerate.
-- We have people here suffering from many types of addictions – alcohol, drugs, sex, self-harm – we believe that exposure to these other types of addictions are not helpful to those under 18, who may be more impressionable than older people.
-- Our members are in varying stages of recovery from their addictions. Some are only beginning the process, some have some recovery time, and some are oldtimers. This means that not everyone here is at the same level of recovery, and may not offer the best support to a young newcomer.
So where can young people go? Typically, we urge them to talk to their parents, school counselors, therapists, and to attend face-to-face meetings for their addictions. We cannot vouch for any particular online site as a resource, since any online site would be subject to the same problems as Recovery Realm in the fact that people can pose as someone else; consequently, we at the Realm feel that face-to-face offers the best solutions for young people.
The safety of our members is of the utmost importance to us.