TEACH KIDS TO BE SOCIAL MEDIA SAVVY
ONLINE youth magazine founder, Carmen Greco, who co-founded iCoolKid – aimed at eight to 15-yearolds – with her 12-year-old son Jenk Oz, explains how parents can ensure children understand the negatives as well as the positives of social media.
QMY 14-year-old daughter is obsessed with social media, How can I best ‘police’ her activity and keep her as safe as possible?
ASOCIAL media is an integral part of the social fabric for today’s kids, so deeply entrenched that taking it away isn’t the solution, and could lead to them feeling like a social outcast.
Speak to your daughter about the negative nuances. Kids want positive interactions with friends, but also crave ‘likes’ and followers, often leading them to allow strangers to follow their profiles.
There’s a lack of understanding about how high engagement doesn’t necessarily result in only receiving positive comments. Therefore, it’s essential you have open, non-judgemental discussions to explain why this is and understand why your daughter has a strong desire to be ‘liked’ – focusing on confidence levels and any peer pressure she may be experiencing.
As social media continues to evolve, so should the conversations, to make sure you’re both aware of the positives and negatives.
To reinforce this, try to stay on top of social innovations so you understand what your daughter’s talking about. In turn, she’ll feel more inclined to discuss issues with you. Actively encouraging positive, open conversations will allow you to drive a negative instance into a positive resolution. TIPS: 1. Encourage your daughter to limit her social circle to real friends – and cull negative followers, even if her number of followers will dip. 2. Help her understand the tone and message certain types of photos and posts send out by scrolling through her timeline and discussing or reflecting on what’s posted. 3. Supervise photos and the language used, as it may be encouraging unwanted feedback and bad behaviour. 4. Follow her on social media until she’s 16 to keep up that visibility. 5. Enforce that all profiles are private. 6. Educate her to avoid posting photos which show her home address or location, personal information in the background, or features expensive items.