My content focuses on the role that parents and teachers can play in helping with children’s digital safety. I took into account two articles that give tips and tools that can help with digital safety implementation. The main components of these articles were to allow children/pre-teens to understand the information they obtain on social media and inform them how to make the correct decisions while using social media platforms.
In today’s society, one of the most constantly changing things is social media. Social media can include any platform such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit and TikTok. Although these platforms provide great entertainment, social media has been proven to cause harmful effects on teenagers itself. According to the Mayo Clinic, teenagers spend the majority of their time on social media. The Mayo Clinic addresses that although social media gives teenagers the platform to express their identities, connect with others, and to build networks, the downside of these platforms all produce risks that can be harmful to these teenagers (Mayo Clinic, 2022). Social media can heighten risk of mental health problems, low self-esteem, and even the possible risk of earning a bad reputation. Although social media can have its downsides, there are some measures that parents can take to monitor what teenagers do on social media. These tips include: teens being encouraged to be respectful online, creating strong passwords to prevent identity theft, not befriending strangers online, a limit of screentime, and a weekly parent update on their social media (Mayo Clinic, 2022) (Ben-Joseph, 2018).
Content Created By Kendra Boone
Citations
Ben-Joseph, E. P. (2018, April). Teaching Kids to Be Smart About Social Media (for Parents) – Nemours KidsHealth. Kids Health. https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/social-media-smarts.html
Mayo Clinic Staff. (2022, February 26). Teens and social media use: What’s the impact? Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/tween-and-teen-health/in-depth/teens-and-social-media-use/art-20474437
