Social media is the
ultimate display of free speech and communication with the world. It has gotten
to a point where many who use social networking sites, live their whole life
through the online world. It seems like if you don’t have a Facebook or Twitter
account, you’re not in the know of what’s going on in the world around you. As
for children and teens, getting a life without social networking is like living
in caves. A child or teen just can’t accept the idea that all her/his friends
are Facebook users while she/he is not – it’s like a cake without the icing.
People these days, young or
old, get a lot of their socialization from the web. Communication with others
is now done in an interactive manner, meaning people forget about the rest of
the world around them.
A major danger for children
who are addicted to social media is cyberbullying a potential danger to them
being online so much is predators. Cyberbullying is now becoming a big deal to
younger children and teens. Since children are now starting to use social media
at an even younger age cyberbulling has become worse. With sites like Facebook
and Twitter people can say anything and there is no filter. Since these
children are so young they don’t understand what they are posting can cause
side effects and it can backfire. This causes other children to pick on other
teens who post inappropriate comments hence when cyberbullying comes into play.
Cyberbullying is a serious cause and parents should speak to there children
about it.
Children who use the Internet
a lot are also prone to the dangers of online predators. Now a days people can
pose as anybody on the Internet. Some people even have multiple identities.
Children may think it’s there friends they are talking to but meanwhile its
some forty-year-old man on the other side. Younger children may also post
themselves online as being older because they think its funny or a joke.
Parents need to be very careful and keep an eye on what children are doing
online.
A few tips for parents when
it comes to protecting their children and the dangers of social media addiction:
1. Limit the amount of time that children are using the
internet/computer
2. Be picky in choosing online friends
3. Place the computer in a common area so you can see
what your child is doing.
Watch this video on the five steps to beating social media addiction:
-Chelsea Andrade
Hello Chelsea
ReplyDeleteIn regards to your post I feel as if children these days are chasing danger rather than running away from danger. They are putting themselves at risks of cyber bullying and predator as you stated but no only this they are picking up bad habits and possible inappropriate language that they may never have even used. These days children are careless as to what they posts whether it be an inappropriate picture or and offensive status. Now my question for all of these sites is why is there no age limit? Should children really be exposed to these sites at such a young age? Even if there was an age limit, I am very aware of how easy it is to fake your age but then maybe the parent of the child would be more quickly to act upon it rather than wait until something bag happened. If we are more aware it allows us to be more prepared for what might happen rather than be blind to the whole idea. In most cases parents will say “well my child would never do that” but that never seems to be accurate and we need to rather look at the big picture instead of assuming. A statistic from Guard child (http://www.guardchild.com/statistics/ for more internet statistics) says that “Only 15% of parents are “in the know” about their kids’ social networking habits, and how these behaviors can lead to cyberbullying.” This is a shocking statistic seeing as most parents believe there children are angels but they are unaware of their own children’s actions. There are ways in which parents can keep an eye on what their children are viewing online by taking advantage of the browsing history. If more parents keep an eye out on their children this could help cyberbullying to lessen and more children’s lives won’t be taken.
-Kristie Matte
Hey Chelsea,
ReplyDeleteChildren these days are becoming more and more involved with online activities and some of which are even getting Facebook profiles and such. It's scary to see such young kids becoming involved with online media outlets because of all the dangers that are out there on the web. I have to agree with Kristie in regards to her comment she made as well. Kids these day really are chasing the dangers of online media. They like to test the waters and thats scary because you never know what will be the consequence of their actions.
Parents should be keeping a close eye on their childrens internet use, and having limitations to the thinkgs they can do, or websites they can be apart of. It's up to the parents to protect their children is they are allowing them to have social media use at a young age.
Something i really liked about your post was the fact that you have helpful tips to parents to help protect their children. I think it's really important to provide others with helpful tips that they might not have thought of, or to give them an insight into other things that they might not necessarily agree with, but with the help of others you can inform them.
-Karley.S
This is a good article for parents who are looking for more information about protecting their children online. They give facts and lots of helpful tips and tricks! http://www.sdcda.org/preventing/protecting-children-online/facts-for-parents.html
ReplyDelete-Karley.S
Hey Chelsea, I really enjoyed reading your post about the dangers of social media and kids. These days with social media becoming more and more popular, there is an increase in the number of younger children accessing social media. At these young ages, children don't know any better and are potentially placing themselves in danger online. This is why I believe it is very important for parents to inform their children about the dangers and empower them to make good decisions online. I feel that the tips your post offered were fantastic and I would add one more tip to the list to make it complete and that would be to inform children about the dangers of cyberbullying and that it is not okay and if they experience it or know someone who is that they tell an adult immediately.
ReplyDeleteI found this blog post about teaching your children the responsibilities of social media and believe that it compliments your blog post wonderfully.
http://www.theravive.com/blog/post/2011/09/13/Teaching-Your-Children-the-Responsibilities-of-Social-Networking.aspx
Tiffany Hopkinson