I have a 10 year old and an 8 year old. Both email friends several times a week. No facebook/twitter/etc...just email. I read their accounts regularly (and the kids know I do this), and my 8 year old still usually asks before he emails someone.

Thinking back to my own childhood, this was about the time that my friends and I started calling each other, so it doesn't seem that abnormal to me.

I have 10 and 12 year olds DD 10 DS 12 that use it to communicate with their close friends. These are Gmail accounts I know the families and have been to their homes. Actually my 12 yo DS doesn't really have any close friends but he does send emails to his Dad and to me when either of us are on the road. Recently he used it to send homework assignments to school so that he could print them and edit them from there. I don't let them have Google + accounts because it's too public--and I also don't want google tracking key strokes and site visits like Facebook does, etc. But the I don't have either of those for the same reasons.

Reading the post about setting up an e-mail account for a fourth grader got me wondering. When did your kids start using e-mail and for what. I have a seventh grader and a fourth grader and the subject of e-mail has never come up. They neither want it or have found a need for it. I'm wondering about the experience of others. In many ways it seems so outdated. Texting and Facebook are the ways my kids communicate. To be clear, I don't allow them on Facebook and they haven't asked for it yet, but if an aunt or uncle or friend posts something of interest or photos, I will show it to them and then write about their reaction.