Category: Social Media Safety

A child should understand what being safe on social sites entails. It includes how to treat personal information, how to relate with others, how to ensure privacy, and how to identify safe and unsafe content. These are the basics of social media safety.  We dare not them for granted, even if we have already taught our children these standard safety practices.

There are also extra layers of safety that a PIA can add is to enhance that security by hiding their IP address and encrypting what they do online. This ensures that any possible threat cannot target them and will help keep privacy at the best levels online.  Still, that doesn’t mean kids should not be taught as much as possible about how to stay safe on any social media platform they may be using.

Social Media Safety: Next Level of Education

Beyond the basics, there is more advanced instruction that parents can teach their children. And it needs to evolve as children grow. As humans, we generally wish to trust others. And therein lies the potential for weakness to be exploited.

The Psychology of Oversharing:

The compulsion to overshare on social media platforms is often fueled by a complex interplay of psychological factors. The need for validation, fear of missing out (FOMO), and desire for connection drive individuals to disclose personal details and experiences online.

However, oversharing can have unintended consequences, ranging from privacy breaches and identity theft to reputational damage and emotional distress.

To strike a balance between authenticity and privacy, kids should be taught to cultivate self-awareness and mindfulness in our online interactions.

Before hitting “post:

• Consider the potential implications of sharing personal information, both for yourself and for your audience.

• Set boundaries for what you’re comfortable sharing and regularly review your privacy settings to ensure your digital footprint is protected.

• Engage in offline activities that fulfill your need for connection and validation, reducing reliance on social media as the primary outlet for self-expression.

By teaching a mindful approach to sharing online, kids can be taught to safeguard their privacy and well-being beyond privacy settings while still enjoying the benefits of social media connectivity.

Managing Your Digital Footprint

Teaching kids what a digital footprint entails is the key to them understanding that every action online as a result.  Unwise discussions due to naïve thinking or an assumption of anonymity does not mean you haven’t left a digital trail.  Explain that your guidance for managing one’s digital footprint is not just about protection today, but for potential harm in the future.

Cultivating a Mindful Online Presence

Instead of just focusing on privacy settings, emphasize the importance of mindfulness in online interactions. Teach them how to scrutinize messages that may contain malicious links. Phishing happens on social media as well, and malware can spread even within an app.

Mental Health and Social Media

Discuss the potential impact of social media on mental health and well-being. Provide strategies for maintaining a healthy relationship with social media, such as setting boundaries, curating a positive feed, and seeking support when needed.

The Rise of AI in the Wrong Hands

Predators and cybercriminals now have access to artificial intelligence to custom curate messages, voices, deepfake videos, and attacks that prey on our emotions.  Teach your child how to safeguard against digital manipulation by never assuming what they are seeing or reading is legitimate, even if it comes from a friend.

Cyberbullying and Online Communication

Online, serious cyberbullying takes place. Teach your child how to recognize cyberbullying – be it through nasty comments, exclusion from groups, or threatening messages. From such behaviors online, you should not retaliate but rather save the evidence and talk to an adult to help you manage the situation.

With the rise of various parental control tools—including being a parent, you now have tools to control how your child uses social media. Parental control software like ClevGuard can block harmful content, enforce time restrictions on the use of social media, and help you supervise their engagements online without being too intrusive. These tools are not about restriction but to ensure your child eases into social media, with safety nets in place up to a time when they can handle more freedom.

Online Friendships and Interaction

Social media platforms such as Instagram can be ideal for children to keep up with their friends. Still, educating them on the set boundaries in their relationships online is important. Make them aware of the risks of online predators and their patterns, such as pretending to be somebody else to gain a child’s trust. They should be aware that they should never agree to meet in person with someone they spoke to online without talking to an adult first.

Making It Easier to Talk

Lastly, the greatest security feature of all is communication: let your child know they can come to you with any concerns or questions regarding their online experience. General updates on how they are using social media may keep you abreast of the situation and, at the same time, give them a chance to talk about any issue that troubles them.

ou need to be approachable and non-judgmental so that your child feels safe discussing their online life with you.  This type of process aids your child in deriving the advantages of social media and bypassing many risks. It just ensures a balanced approach so that they feel supported and educated on how to work their way around the world of social media safely.

With these steps, you help your kid enjoy the benefits that come with the use of social media while mitigating most of its associated risks. It is all about balanced empowerment and education—giving them everything they need to be safe while on social media.

Read about the U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory on social media and youth mental health.

Social media offers a vibrant and engaging avenue for children to forge friendships and discover new knowledge. It can act as a supportive haven for teenagers, providing a sense of validation and belonging. By connecting with peers who are navigating similar challenges, social media can significantly reduce feelings of isolation among youth.

Additionally, it serves as a sanctuary where support groups on critical issues like bullying, depression, and abuse are easily accessible, while simultaneously enabling teenagers to showcase their creativity and talents.

However, the very strengths that social media offers to children, teens and groups, can also be used to exploit them.

A need for acceptance and inclusion can be used to manipulate or coerce a person to do something simply to please someone else.

The need to alleviate feelings of loneliness can lead a child to divulge personal information, especially if the other person shares a personal story about their loneliness.

Unfortunately, a new friend connection could be a scammer or predator. Or, they may be pretending to be a legitimate friend.  This is the essence of what exploitation is. It’s the preying on vulnerable emotions and fears to get something from the someone else.

Understanding the Risks

Before delving into protective measures, it’s important to understand the various ways in which children can be exploited on social media platforms.

Cyberbullying:

Children may encounter harassment, intimidation, or humiliation from peers, causing profound emotional distress and psychological harm. This can occur through texts, social media, and online games. The anonymity of the internet often emboldens bullies,

Predatory Behavior:

Online predators often disguise their identities to manipulate children into engaging in inappropriate or harmful activities, posing a significant threat to their safety.  If the predator lives in the area, it can lead to a personal encounter.

Exposure to Inappropriate Content:

The unrestricted nature of social media exposes children to explicit material, including violence, pornography, and hate speech, which can adversely impact their development and worldview. This can lead a child to also share personal photos of themselves.

Infringement of Privacy:

Parents should not assume that strict privacy settings are enough.  Children, not fully understanding the importance of personal privacy, may share too much online. This oversharing can lead to identity theft, stalking or being targeted by manipulative ads.

Social Media Exploitation Methods

We’ve been focusing on social media as one of the platforms where perpetrators seek out their victims, but methods of exploration go beyond your child’s favorite app.  Social engineering is the term used for any type of manipulation, online or off, using social media or another means.

Predatory Behavior and Social Engineering

Predators on the internet often employ social engineering tactics on social media such as:

• Phishing: Using deceptive messages to trick children into providing personal information or downloading malicious software. These messages often appear to be from trusted sources, making it difficult for young users to recognize the danger.

• Pretexting: Creating a fabricated scenario or identity to gain a child’s trust. For example, an attacker might pose as a school official or new friend to solicit personal details or sensitive information.

• Baiting: Offering something enticing – like a free download or access to exclusive content – that leads to harmful sites or prompts children to share private data.

These methods are closely linked to other predatory behaviors where adults or older children manipulate vulnerable kids into unsafe situations. This manipulation often involves coaxing them to share personal information or engage in inappropriate activities, exploiting their trust and vulnerability.

Other methods used beyond social media include:

• Quid pro quo: Similar to baiting, it is the exchange of information between two people.  “I’ll tell you a secret and me and then you tell me one”.

• Impersonation: Pretending to be someone else, either in person, over the phone, or online, to gain trust and extract information or access.

• Reverse social engineering: Manipulating a target into contacting the social engineer first, often by planting false information online or creating a situation where the target feels compelled to reach out.

• Shoulder surfing: Observing someone as they enter passwords or PINs on their devices or at ATMs, allowing the attacker to gain unauthorized access.

These methods can be used individually or in combination to exploit human psychology and trust in order to achieve the social engineer’s objectives.

Tips for Protecting Children Online

Parents play a crucial role in educating their children about the potential dangers of social media. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach, there are several standards that can help if followed. Discuss the dangers shared above in this article.  Younger children may be to young for you to go into great detail. In those cases, a parent should fully monitor their activities.  Be aware of their personal connections and monitors their interactions without exception.

As children grow, they will need a safe level of freedom to make independent decisions.  This is were parents need to get into the nitty gritty with their child or teen about what dangers await online.  They need to be aware that not everything may be as it appears.

Whether you’re a child, teen, or adult there is no reason for anyone to share personally compromising information online to a close friend.  Those conversations should be held exclusively offline face to face.  Not via text or messaging apps.  Even a phone call may be compromised if AI is used to mimic a voice.

Set age-appropriate limits on screen time

Establish clear guidelines for screen time and social media usage based on the child’s age and maturity level. Creating designated tech-free zones and times in the home — such as during family meals or before bedtime — can help as well while also promoting quality time together and reducing reliance on screens.

Monitor Online Activities

Keep track of online activities, including the websites children visit, the apps in use and any interactions with others on social media. Consider utilizing parental control features offered to restrict access to inappropriate content and track online behavior.

Teach Critical Thinking Skills

Help children develop critical thinking skills, especially when it comes to evaluating online content. Teach them to question the credibility of information, recognize fake news and discern between reliable and unreliable sources.

Educate About Privacy Settings

Go over privacy settings on social media platforms as well as how to adjust them to control who can see posts and information. Encourage children to set their profiles to private and only accept friend requests from people they know in real life.

Discuss Online Risks and Consequences

Have age-appropriate conversations about the potential risks of social media – such as cyberbullying, online predators and the permanence of digital footprints. Help children understand the consequences of sharing personal information online.

Model Healthy Online Behavior

Lead by example and demonstrate healthy online behavior. Show children how to use social media responsibly, respectfully interact with others online and prioritize offline activities and face-to-face interactions.

Guide Your Child Through Online Interactions

Navigating the online world can sometimes be tricky for kids, and as parents, it’s our job to be their compass. If you notice your child might be getting a little too adventurous online, perhaps stepping into roles they shouldn’t – such as being overly bossy, rude or even a bully themselves – it’s a great opportunity for a heart-to-heart. Chat about the power of kindness and the impact of actions both online and offline.

If your child has been mistreated online, there are mental health counselors and other professionals trained to handle these types of situations. Remember, help is just a conversation away.

Empowering Safe Digital Exploration

While social media offers many benefits, it’s important to be proactive about safeguarding our children from its potential dangers. By educating ourselves and our kids, setting clear guidelines and staying engaged with their digital lives, we can help them enjoy the benefits of social media without falling prey to its risks. Let’s work together to create a safer digital environment for all our children.

Author Bio:
Carolyn Ball, LCPC, is the founder of Elevate Counseling + Wellness. Her goal is to help people elevate their lives and reach their maximum potential. She has an understanding of the significance of mental health in a person’s overall well-being, and is passionate about assisting others in living their best version of themselves. 

Do you ever hear about the positive sides of social media? Probably not very often. The negative press outweighs the positives. Scams, bullying, misinformation, privacy concerns. There are also the concerns when a person spends too much time on social media. It can take them away from interacting with friends and family in real life, leading to isolation.

While all of these issues are important to be aware of, there’s a positive side to social media that can’t be ignored. These upsides are the very reason why this worldwide phenomenon has grown experientially over the years, which has led to a growing number of social media apps.

Let’s take this time to remind ourselves about some of the positive sides of social media.

Storing Memories

Social media is very good at giving us an archived history of our lives. Each moment captured in time through photos.  One of the first social media platforms, Facebook, will even let you know of what you were doing 10 years ago on any given day.  On Instagram alone, 66,000 photos are shared every minute. That’s quite the collection of pictures.  The number of digital memories that add up over time is incredible.

Combine Facebook and Instagram together and there’s an unbelievable amount of content online. It’s special to look back on them – and you can even turn them into physical photo books with services like mysocialbook.com. You can download them, and they’ll become a book. With the number of social media hacks blocking people out of accounts, this is way to secure your photos in a way that is also enjoyable to look at.

Connecting Communities

Social media is excellent for connecting communities – we’re in touch with more people than we’d ever be able to if we didn’t have social media. it can even be a great tool for making friends – there are pages specifically for it. One of them is Find My Tribe.

That tribe can be fellow gardening enthusiasts, vintage car lovers, or aspiring chefs.

And there are some excellent pages for positivity and self-confidence boosting – something social media is known for doing the opposite of.  Social media in general is all about connecting likeminded people. The people you follow and in turn follow you are the ones you agree with on many issues.  This can be a lifeline for those who are lonely, even though we’ve already stated that social media can cause isolation for those who are normally outgoing in the real world.

Learning and Inspiration

Social media has endless amounts of knowledge and creativity. And yes, sometimes, that knowledge isn’t true. Always fact-check a video you see on TikTok before believing it. Even Taylor Swift is on a social media ban because of a deep fake picture posted of her.

Still, it’s great for learning and inspiration. Platforms like YouTube, Pinterest, and LinkedIn offer opportunities that are great for it. You can pick up a new hobby, learn a language, and gain skills that advance your career.

Or you can spend the day watching TikTok Cook or TikTok Fitness. There’s incredible content everywhere. Of course, safe guards need to be in place for children to ensure they don’t fall victim to harmful content and cyberbullying.

Empowering Voices

Social media can be great for empowering voices. Again, TikTok and Instagram shorts are becoming a great example of this. TikTok is creating a ton of influencers with a voice. And it’s great for more excellent issues, like campaigns for environmental conservation and human rights – and some videos are doing that. Tons of money gets raised for different causes because of the awareness videos make.

Social media can be a conduit for bad, and bad news gets the clicks and makes news stories more popular. So, it’s logical that it doesn’t get a lot of positive press. The media focuses on the negatives. In reality, we wouldn’t be as connected to the world as we are without it. Many of us can’t imagine our lives without it.  For those in oppressed countries, social media is a lifeline for to make change by informing the world about their situation. This as the case in the Arab Spring.

Social media is what we make of it. If we use it mindfully in a health way, it’s a positive and powerful tool. Let’s keep scrolling, sharing, and connecting, making the most of the positive aspects of social media. Let’s stand up for what is wrong and pass on what is good in the world.

Many parents feel like their children are growing up too fast with the help of social media. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram give kids access to endless information and content. Kids today know more, but they are also at risk of encountering ideas that may affect the speed of their psychological and social development.

While some of the things they see aren’t necessarily harmful, the biggest question is how to ensure your young ones are interacting with content that is age-appropriate and conducive to their development. Here’s how social media is making children grow up too fast and what you can do about it.

Ways Social Media Making Kids Grow Up Too Fast

While helpful educational tools and people are producing interesting content that can benefit people of all ages, misinformation and dangerous content will inevitably abound in that same space. According to an All About Cookies survey, 50% out of 1,000 parents felt that the internet makes kids grow up too fast.

Here are a few examples of what kids are exposed to on social media and how it can cause them to skip pivotal stages of their growth:

Risky behavior:

Since the prefrontal cortex is the last to mature, your child’s emotional and impulsive regions are still developing, which means they may have higher impulsivity and lower ability to weigh potential risks carefully. While influencers can be grown adults who know the consequences of their actions, kids may put themselves in unnecessarily risky situations for the thrill and excitement they see online.

Makeup and fashion:

Younger children are learning how to do their makeup and may want to dress according to adult fashion trends, whereas pretend makeup and fruity lip gloss may have sufficed in previous years. This may make kids feel they must alter their appearances to be considered presentable or beautiful.

This may make kids feel they must alter their appearances to be considered presentable or beautiful. Tools like Becker Promo Codes from Valuecom can help save on trending products while keeping things affordable.

Eating disorders:

Anyone can post about their exercise or eating habits online, and it isn’t always healthy. Content ranges from information about intermittent fasting and juice cleanses — which may be helpful for adults but pose health risks to children — all the way up to models who eat raw liver and half-boiled chicken to keep in shape.

Comparison:

Constant exposure to curated content depicting success, beauty and happiness may make kids feel their lives are less than others. The pressure to live up to unrealistic standards for online validation may contribute to adolescent body image issues, low self-esteem and anxiety.

Mature content:

The more children are active online without limits to what they see, the more they will encounter inappropriate content in the form of violent videos, suggestive imagery and music, and adult jokes.

Fostering Healthy Social Media Use

While social media may be causing kids to grow too fast, there are ways to support your little ones limit social media’s influence, teach them how to think critically, and decide how it impacts them and their choices. Some people suggest they shouldn’t use social media at all, but keeping them away is almost impossible. The best thing you can do is review your little one’s social media accounts and access them occasionally.

You know how your child understands the world, and what they need to be healthy emotionally and mentally. Content that’s appropriate for them may not be so for another child.

Be transparent with your kids, create a safe and open space to discuss what they see, and guide them on healthy social media usage. Teach them to think critically, recognize their mental and emotional states, and take breaks as necessary. Too much screen time can negatively affect mental health, so they must get away for a time. Encourage alternate, extracurricular activities like reading physical books and joining clubs more than spending time on a screen.

Why It’s Important to Develop Healthy Social Media Habits

When you think about how much time kids spend online, you see social media’s impact on their growing minds. Their reasoning abilities are still developing, so they may have challenges differentiating between reality and staged content.

In addition, a still-developing prefrontal cortex means they’re still learning how to regulate their emotional responses to social rewards. With positive shares, likes and comments readily available for people who represent themselves in certain ways, they may feel they must be the same way to be liked or valued in society.

Popularity online may cause children to skip the pivotal awkward stage where they figure out who they really want to be as they grow. Receiving constant likes and comments is different from a compliment from a friend in person and may wire their brain to follow the social rewards of online popularity.

Help Your Kids Use Social Media Healthily

Social media is here to stay and although it has adverse effects, there are also many ways it can be helpful, positive and educational. The key is to help your children develop good habits that support their mental and emotional health as they grow.

Author bio:  Cora Gold is the Editor-in-Chief of women’s lifestyle magazine, Revivalist. She strives to live a happy and healthy life with her family by her side.
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