How to Ensure Your Child Is Using Social Media Wisely
Children being able to utilize social media on their own is not extremely unusual. They occasionally use it to stay in touch with their peers and stay abreast of global trends. They can learn a lot more than just trends, including international news, and occasionally they may uncover new information or trivia on these social networking platforms.
It is also well known, though, that children may find the internet frightening and even dangerous. If you’re a parent, you may be wondering if it’s appropriate for your kids to use social media and how to ensure their safety. It’s crucial to remember that you must keep an eye on your child, particularly when they are just beginning to use social media. Verify that you trust them as well as that they are mature enough to use various platforms independently.
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What are the appropriate uses of social media?
Social media can be helpful if used with the appropriate intentions. It’s not actually a dark place you shouldn’t let your child come close to. Here are some ways for your child to put social media to good use instead.
1. Building their portfolio
People can use social media to display their hobbies in addition to connecting with their peers and making new acquaintances. Your child is capable of doing the same things as everyone else. If they have a passion for photography, they can share pictures of their work on their personal profiles to showcase to potential clients and companies or simply to earn recognition for their efforts.
As opposed to keeping their work private and only in their personal storage, uploading their work to social media and making it public would be beneficial because the interactions that they would get from the likes, comments, and sharing can be used as substantial evidence later to back up their success. Additionally, they can use the comments to get feedback from their audience. Furthermore, uploading their work to the public will also let them see how far they have come and accomplished. They will also be able to compare their previous works to their new ones and watch their improvements.
2. Expanding their network
Because social media platforms are always evolving, there are many elements that might facilitate your child’s socialization. Through recommended pages, they can find new individuals, read new postings, and see friends they have in common. Additionally, they can initiate a conversation with their new acquaintances by sending them direct messages.
The power of social media isn’t only restricted to making friends or messaging their peers. It can also be used as a way to expand their network and connections. They may have similar interests to other people and that can be extremely important in this day and age.
3. Connecting with family and friends
Social media’s primary function was to facilitate human connection and enable users to share details of their daily lives with others. Due to our hectic society, which makes real-world interactions rare, students find social media to be an easy method to stay in touch with their friends. Even if they don’t have their friends’ phone numbers kept on their phones the old-fashioned way, social media is helpful since it allows them to stay in touch with their old pals and share their experiences.
How to stay safe on social media?
As there are ways for social media to be useful, there are also some things that your child should be careful of when using social media so they can have a safe experience.
1. Don’t post anything that can ruin your reputation
Your child should understand that sharing anything on social media has repercussions. This covers their lives, stories, videos, posts, as well as a simple comment. They need to understand that whatever they post that is harmful or malevolent could backfire. They have to be extremely careful not to portray themselves negatively at any time.
“Cancel culture” is quickly becoming prominent in the cyberworld and it is easy for users to cyberbully because they are hiding behind their screens. They think they can say mean things to a person because their identity is not known to those people. However, there are repercussions and a cyberbully can always end up being punished for their actions. It could be the school authorities, their future employers, or even the police should the person they are bullying file a complaint.
Generally speaking, it is better to remain silent when in doubt. Your child should avoid engaging in heated internet discussions. Of course, debating with strangers online can be exciting, but the outcome is usually ineffective and may even be harmful. Social media is a risky environment. On the cloud, whatever stays there. Additionally, even if one tries to remove any evidence of social media activity, there is always a method to reveal it.
2. Don’t hop on just any trend
Not every trend is appropriate or even good. Since it will be hard to keep an eye on your child’s internet usage all the time, they might also follow everyone else mindlessly and follow almost every trend that appears on social media. Some of these tendencies are dangerous and detrimental. In the past, there was a tendency for people to steal public property or ingest tide pods. These are just some of those trends.
As much as it may be a fun thing to watch, there will always be consequences for this. Even though stealing is a crime, that is a no-brainer, many children and teenagers from all over the world still jumped on the trend after seeing videos of people doing it go viral. Children using social media must decide for themselves whether or not what they’re doing is morally acceptable, or if they’re unclear, they should consult a reliable adult.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, as our society has developed, social media has evolved to become hazardous in many ways, particularly for young people. Since social media is probably obtrusive for your children as well, it may be difficult for you as a parent to keep a close eye on their usage. You can sit down and talk with them to help them understand how to use social media effectively and to their benefit.
Carelle
Carelle is a teacher who has been through the ups and downs of the teacher and learner life. She wishes for every learner to gain educational satisfaction that will help embody the people they want to be in the future.
