6 Ways to Protect Your Child from the Dangers of Social Media
Social Media is both a gift and a curse to all of us, particularly to children and teens, because it connects us and furnishes us with all kinds of useful information, but also exposes us to unsavory people and ideas. Presumably, we adults are better equiped to guarding ourselves from some of these dangers, but kids are so much more vulnerable! Internet predators are real, and we need to guard our young and not so young children from them. Just because someone is not physically in your home does not mean that the person cannot harm your child, or find his way into meeting them in person.
It is imperative that young people understand the importance of privacy in communications of all kinds, in text and in pictures, and that parents be up-to-speed on how to best support a child or teen on safe uses of social media. There are kids who have been bullied into suicide by social media hounding. There have been children and teens who have been sexually abused via social media introductions. There are even murders committed that have been facilitated via social media. Though even schools post information for kids on Facebook, keeping personal exposure to a minimum is best. In regard to social media use, less is more and in most cases, is better.
Almost daily there are new apps or platforms for social media that are being introduced, and teens are always the first to sign up. Before you give your young person free access to download, upload, and sync anything onto their cell phone, tablet, or laptop, be sure you are educating them on safe practices, and limiting their exposure to dangerous sites. In order to do this, you need to educate yourself on all the different social media platforms that exist.
How much do you know about Facebook? Instagram? Snapchat? Twitter? Vine? Nextdoor? MeetUp? Tik Tok? Or what about Tinder? Bumble? OkCupid? Zoosk? Hinge? Match? Coffee meets Bagel? Happn? League? Grindr? Plenty of Fish? I'm sure I'm already forgetting a bunch. It's hard to do, but the more you can keep your child away from these social media sites, the better off he will be. In addition to all the other dangers of social media, they present to children and adults a terrible waste of their time.
Below you will find the top 6 ways a parent can help their child be safe when using social media.
Limit social media usage. The safest thing to do is just limit to amount of time your young person is on social media. If limiting is not possible, encourage them to limit their usage. If they see you on your phone or on social media all the time, they will do it too. Go on a virtual diet! Unlimited usage can be a rabbit hole of exposure to unsafe social media practices by others, or choices that your young person will regret.
Teach your teen about internet safety. And, to do that, you must first educate yourself: What is the dark web? How can you adolescent or young adult access it? What will you find there? Make kids understands that others their age have been stalked, harmed, even killed by unsavory people they met online.
Get an internet content safety filter that gives you the ability to block access to sites. There are content filtering services that allow parents to set parameters and allow certain site, alert parents about other sites, and block certain sites completely. Which filter? There are many: Talk to your child's principal, a smart parent you admire, a religious leader, and Google "internet safety filters" or a related term, and buy or lease a filter. Learn how to set limits on home computers, phones, and tablets to block pornographic sites and sexually explicit sites.
Even if your child is a young adult, keep in mind that if you paid for his laptop, you have the right to put some limitations for access in place. Educate your child on what is not safe for them to do, and what's not appropriate for others to do to your child. This includes teaching them how, where, and when to report harassment.Keep personal information hidden. Make your child understand that he cannot post truly personal information on any social media platform. The best rule is "when in doubt, don't post." The best way to stay safe is to make sure that your personal information and location is never broadcast. For instance, posting a picture of your new driver's license in a new state provides anyone with access to your account to see your address, and other personal identifying information.
For a college student, posting you residence hall and room number or your class schedule and locations is making it easy for anyone with access to your account to stalk you. Seriously. As best as you can, keep your personal information hidden.
Make use of privacy settings on social media accounts. For any personal social media account, make sure you keep your privacy settings on. This will limit who is seeing your posts or pictures. This also allows you to decline requests from random people, or friends, to view your information.
Posting means permanent, it is that simple!. Make your child understand this fact. Gone are the days when you could send an x-rated picture on Snapchat and get away with it. Now, that's not the case. You need to protect yourself in making sure anything that's posted of you, or by you is something you will not regret. This could be words, pictures, or any associations. In this day and age, everyone needs to understand that anything they put out there can, and will, be permanent. You cannot take back what's been put out there, so always err on the side of caution when posting information into the social media world.
If you are concerned about the amount of usage or notice a process addiction with technology use forming (i.e. porn, video gaming, sex and love, internet gambling, hate sites, etc.), it is important that as a parent you consider consulting with an expert for help. There may be local resources available to you, but if not, there are professionals across the national who can help you get your young person connected to the appropriate treatment options. Seek out a Therapeutic Educational Consultant. This is what we do, and we do know how to help.
For questions or comments contact Joanna.
