Picture this: You’re scrolling through your feed on your favorite social media platform. What images do you see? Are they appropriate for kids? What are friends posting? Is it positive, negative, healthy, or harmful?
Social media is mostly curated, meaning that content is often shaped and even distorted to influence us. And it’s not just marketing and advertising people pulling these shenanigans. Most of us sometimes use social media to tweak or filter the truth.
It’s human nature. We want to look our best and maybe stir up a little envy in our friends. How many of us haven’t posted pictures of sushi lunches, vacation rentals, or our families posing with the dog in matching holiday pajamas? And yes, the dog’s pajamas match, too.
Now picture this: You’re again scrolling through your feed. What thoughts pop up? Are they critical thoughts about someone’s weight, clothes, or grammar? Are they petty thoughts about your cousin’s new sports car when you know he can’t afford a car like that? Are they scornful thoughts about families and dogs in matching pajamas?
What Taylor Swift fan wouldn’t feel a stab of FOMO (fear of missing out) when a friend is whooping it up at her concert, but they’re at home, eating popcorn and watching TV?
Think how we, with our adult sensibilities, still fall into these traps and then imagine how vulnerable our children might be.
Children as Marketing Targets
There has been an alarming uptick in the number of children buying beauty products, many of which might harm their skin.
Jessica DeFino, a journalist writing about the beauty industry, says several new brands focus on “tweenage girls,” adding that even younger children “are actively being targeted.”
While this phenomenon is not solely a social media issue, the two are heavily resonant with one another.
Social Media Harbors Real Dangers
I saved the worst for last. Consider these real social media threats:
- Anxiety, depression, altered sleep and attention spans, and social media addiction
- Cyberbullies spewing hate speech, inciting violence, or encouraging suicide
- Predators
- Unhealthy validation/attention-seeking
- Unrealistic body image
Predators have had virtual arsenals at their disposal on social media to:
- Create fake social media profiles
- Pass themselves off as a different age or gender to entice a child or make them feel safe
- Scavenge from other social media profiles for locales and other details familiar to their targets
Once in contact, predators can groom children, deepening bonds before amping up more dangerous communication. Predators have seriously harmed children without even meeting them in person.
Lawmakers are slamming social media companies and their CEOs, but keeping children safe on those sites is your job, too.
How to Protect Your Child on Social Media
Monitor your social media first. Check permissions and settings to control access to your information. Before posting, ask yourself:
- Am I setting my child up to be bullied?
- Could anything about this embarrass my child now? How about years from now?
- If someone shares my post, what then?
- Maybe I should ask my child’s permission?
- Should I post this picture that includes other people’s kids?
Minding our social media manners and our kids’ manners is smart. Do we really want them to behave as badly as we sometimes do?
Next, consider whether your child should even have social media accounts. If yes, monitor them regularly and often, including settings and permissions. Teach safe, kind, and responsible social media use, including recognizing potential bad actors and influences.
And always reassure them that they can talk to you about anything scary or uncomfortable.