It’s no news that the internet, especially social media has become the world’s village where everyone congregates. As it is, it’s futile to try and keep children unaware as they’d always find a way.
The best way is to get on top of the situation. Like all good things, social media does come with its vices. From cyberbullying to s*xual predators to actual kidnappers, its ills cannot be ignored. This is why you should guide your child through the usage of social media if they’re asking to sign up.
Below are a few tips that can help you.
Familiarize with social media apps
While you may think you know just about it, new social media apps are popping up each day. Make in-depth research on social media sites, both the popular and unpopular, and how they work.
Set an age limit
A lot of social media apps require the user to be at least 13 to sign up with their parent’s permission. If your child is younger, it’s not advisable to allow them to use social media.
Check your child’s privacy settings
Nothing is exactly private in the online world so make sure you’re following their social media pages and checking for privacy settings. This way you’re able to limit who can see their content. Also, It’s advisable to keep your child’s profiles private to limit random access to it.
Limit social media to large screens/desktop
Limiting the use of social media to living room desktop will not only help you keep track of the time spent on it, but it will also put their communication out in the open.
Make sure they don’t share pictures that can reveal their location
Monitor the photos they put out online. Be sure they don’t share pictures that reveal background information in it so that their location can be deduced. Also, make sure they’re not sharing personal information about themselves like phone numbers or house addresses.
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Set up a strong password
Slapping together the year of birth, date, and time for a password is not the way you want to go. Set up a secure and intricate password; one a hacker would have a tough time figuring out and keep it safe.
Spend more non-tech time together
Create avenues in your home where you can spend time together that doesn’t involve the internet. You could set a family time together watching TV shows or playing family games. This will help your kids to spend time with actual human interaction outside Social media.
Track their social media usage
You might want to consider apps available to monitor your child’s social media use. Apps like Net Nanny enable parents to block p**n sites, manage time online, and monitor social media activity. Bark, an app that monitors accounts on 20 different social media platforms, along with iOS and Android texting and email accounts, alerts parents to potentially risky behavior.
TeenSafe links teens’ phones directly to their parents’ phones, and allows supervision of phone calls, emails, texts and social media use. However this move can breach the trust between you and your child so you might want to consider if it’s worth it.
Keep the communication line between you and your child open
Become the go-to person of your child. This would only happen when you build trust, keep the communication line open and demonstrate you’re always there for them. Also, make sure to continually inform them of the dangers of the internet and the importance of building a healthy reputation for themselves online.
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