Category: Social Media Safety

Social media offers a vibrant and engaging avenue for children to forge friendships and discover new knowledge. It can act as a supportive haven for teenagers, providing a sense of validation and belonging. By connecting with peers who are navigating similar challenges, social media can significantly reduce feelings of isolation among youth.

Additionally, it serves as a sanctuary where support groups on critical issues like bullying, depression, and abuse are easily accessible, while simultaneously enabling teenagers to showcase their creativity and talents.

However, the very strengths that social media offers to children, teens and groups, can also be used to exploit them.

A need for acceptance and inclusion can be used to manipulate or coerce a person to do something simply to please someone else.

The need to alleviate feelings of loneliness can lead a child to divulge personal information, especially if the other person shares a personal story about their loneliness.

Unfortunately, a new friend connection could be a scammer or predator. Or, they may be pretending to be a legitimate friend.  This is the essence of what exploitation is. It’s the preying on vulnerable emotions and fears to get something from the someone else.

Understanding the Risks

Before delving into protective measures, it’s important to understand the various ways in which children can be exploited on social media platforms.

Cyberbullying:

Children may encounter harassment, intimidation, or humiliation from peers, causing profound emotional distress and psychological harm. This can occur through texts, social media, and online games. The anonymity of the internet often emboldens bullies,

Predatory Behavior:

Online predators often disguise their identities to manipulate children into engaging in inappropriate or harmful activities, posing a significant threat to their safety.  If the predator lives in the area, it can lead to a personal encounter.

Exposure to Inappropriate Content:

The unrestricted nature of social media exposes children to explicit material, including violence, pornography, and hate speech, which can adversely impact their development and worldview. This can lead a child to also share personal photos of themselves.

Infringement of Privacy:

Parents should not assume that strict privacy settings are enough.  Children, not fully understanding the importance of personal privacy, may share too much online. This oversharing can lead to identity theft, stalking or being targeted by manipulative ads.

Social Media Exploitation Methods

We’ve been focusing on social media as one of the platforms where perpetrators seek out their victims, but methods of exploration go beyond your child’s favorite app.  Social engineering is the term used for any type of manipulation, online or off, using social media or another means.

Predatory Behavior and Social Engineering

Predators on the internet often employ social engineering tactics on social media such as:

• Phishing: Using deceptive messages to trick children into providing personal information or downloading malicious software. These messages often appear to be from trusted sources, making it difficult for young users to recognize the danger.

• Pretexting: Creating a fabricated scenario or identity to gain a child’s trust. For example, an attacker might pose as a school official or new friend to solicit personal details or sensitive information.

• Baiting: Offering something enticing – like a free download or access to exclusive content – that leads to harmful sites or prompts children to share private data.

These methods are closely linked to other predatory behaviors where adults or older children manipulate vulnerable kids into unsafe situations. This manipulation often involves coaxing them to share personal information or engage in inappropriate activities, exploiting their trust and vulnerability.

Other methods used beyond social media include:

• Quid pro quo: Similar to baiting, it is the exchange of information between two people.  “I’ll tell you a secret and me and then you tell me one”.

• Impersonation: Pretending to be someone else, either in person, over the phone, or online, to gain trust and extract information or access.

• Reverse social engineering: Manipulating a target into contacting the social engineer first, often by planting false information online or creating a situation where the target feels compelled to reach out.

• Shoulder surfing: Observing someone as they enter passwords or PINs on their devices or at ATMs, allowing the attacker to gain unauthorized access.

These methods can be used individually or in combination to exploit human psychology and trust in order to achieve the social engineer’s objectives.

Tips for Protecting Children Online

Parents play a crucial role in educating their children about the potential dangers of social media. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach, there are several standards that can help if followed. Discuss the dangers shared above in this article.  Younger children may be to young for you to go into great detail. In those cases, a parent should fully monitor their activities.  Be aware of their personal connections and monitors their interactions without exception.

As children grow, they will need a safe level of freedom to make independent decisions.  This is were parents need to get into the nitty gritty with their child or teen about what dangers await online.  They need to be aware that not everything may be as it appears.

Whether you’re a child, teen, or adult there is no reason for anyone to share personally compromising information online to a close friend.  Those conversations should be held exclusively offline face to face.  Not via text or messaging apps.  Even a phone call may be compromised if AI is used to mimic a voice.

Set age-appropriate limits on screen time

Establish clear guidelines for screen time and social media usage based on the child’s age and maturity level. Creating designated tech-free zones and times in the home — such as during family meals or before bedtime — can help as well while also promoting quality time together and reducing reliance on screens.

Monitor Online Activities

Keep track of online activities, including the websites children visit, the apps in use and any interactions with others on social media. Consider utilizing parental control features offered to restrict access to inappropriate content and track online behavior.

Teach Critical Thinking Skills

Help children develop critical thinking skills, especially when it comes to evaluating online content. Teach them to question the credibility of information, recognize fake news and discern between reliable and unreliable sources.

Educate About Privacy Settings

Go over privacy settings on social media platforms as well as how to adjust them to control who can see posts and information. Encourage children to set their profiles to private and only accept friend requests from people they know in real life.

Discuss Online Risks and Consequences

Have age-appropriate conversations about the potential risks of social media – such as cyberbullying, online predators and the permanence of digital footprints. Help children understand the consequences of sharing personal information online.

Model Healthy Online Behavior

Lead by example and demonstrate healthy online behavior. Show children how to use social media responsibly, respectfully interact with others online and prioritize offline activities and face-to-face interactions.

Guide Your Child Through Online Interactions

Navigating the online world can sometimes be tricky for kids, and as parents, it’s our job to be their compass. If you notice your child might be getting a little too adventurous online, perhaps stepping into roles they shouldn’t – such as being overly bossy, rude or even a bully themselves – it’s a great opportunity for a heart-to-heart. Chat about the power of kindness and the impact of actions both online and offline.

If your child has been mistreated online, there are mental health counselors and other professionals trained to handle these types of situations. Remember, help is just a conversation away.

Empowering Safe Digital Exploration

While social media offers many benefits, it’s important to be proactive about safeguarding our children from its potential dangers. By educating ourselves and our kids, setting clear guidelines and staying engaged with their digital lives, we can help them enjoy the benefits of social media without falling prey to its risks. Let’s work together to create a safer digital environment for all our children.

Author Bio:
Carolyn Ball, LCPC, is the founder of Elevate Counseling + Wellness. Her goal is to help people elevate their lives and reach their maximum potential. She has an understanding of the significance of mental health in a person’s overall well-being, and is passionate about assisting others in living their best version of themselves. 

Do you ever hear about the positive sides of social media? Probably not very often. The negative press outweighs the positives. Scams, bullying, misinformation, privacy concerns. There are also the concerns when a person spends too much time on social media. It can take them away from interacting with friends and family in real life, leading to isolation.

While all of these issues are important to be aware of, there’s a positive side to social media that can’t be ignored. These upsides are the very reason why this worldwide phenomenon has grown experientially over the years, which has led to a growing number of social media apps.

Let’s take this time to remind ourselves about some of the positive sides of social media.

Storing Memories

Social media is very good at giving us an archived history of our lives. Each moment captured in time through photos.  One of the first social media platforms, Facebook, will even let you know of what you were doing 10 years ago on any given day.  On Instagram alone, 66,000 photos are shared every minute. That’s quite the collection of pictures.  The number of digital memories that add up over time is incredible.

Combine Facebook and Instagram together and there’s an unbelievable amount of content online. It’s special to look back on them – and you can even turn them into physical photo books with services like mysocialbook.com. You can download them, and they’ll become a book. With the number of social media hacks blocking people out of accounts, this is way to secure your photos in a way that is also enjoyable to look at.

Connecting Communities

Social media is excellent for connecting communities – we’re in touch with more people than we’d ever be able to if we didn’t have social media. it can even be a great tool for making friends – there are pages specifically for it. One of them is Find My Tribe.

That tribe can be fellow gardening enthusiasts, vintage car lovers, or aspiring chefs.

And there are some excellent pages for positivity and self-confidence boosting – something social media is known for doing the opposite of.  Social media in general is all about connecting likeminded people. The people you follow and in turn follow you are the ones you agree with on many issues.  This can be a lifeline for those who are lonely, even though we’ve already stated that social media can cause isolation for those who are normally outgoing in the real world.

Learning and Inspiration

Social media has endless amounts of knowledge and creativity. And yes, sometimes, that knowledge isn’t true. Always fact-check a video you see on TikTok before believing it. Even Taylor Swift is on a social media ban because of a deep fake picture posted of her.

Still, it’s great for learning and inspiration. Platforms like YouTube, Pinterest, and LinkedIn offer opportunities that are great for it. You can pick up a new hobby, learn a language, and gain skills that advance your career.

Or you can spend the day watching TikTok Cook or TikTok Fitness. There’s incredible content everywhere. Of course, safe guards need to be in place for children to ensure they don’t fall victim to harmful content and cyberbullying.

Empowering Voices

Social media can be great for empowering voices. Again, TikTok and Instagram shorts are becoming a great example of this. TikTok is creating a ton of influencers with a voice. And it’s great for more excellent issues, like campaigns for environmental conservation and human rights – and some videos are doing that. Tons of money gets raised for different causes because of the awareness videos make.

Social media can be a conduit for bad, and bad news gets the clicks and makes news stories more popular. So, it’s logical that it doesn’t get a lot of positive press. The media focuses on the negatives. In reality, we wouldn’t be as connected to the world as we are without it. Many of us can’t imagine our lives without it.  For those in oppressed countries, social media is a lifeline for to make change by informing the world about their situation. This as the case in the Arab Spring.

Social media is what we make of it. If we use it mindfully in a health way, it’s a positive and powerful tool. Let’s keep scrolling, sharing, and connecting, making the most of the positive aspects of social media. Let’s stand up for what is wrong and pass on what is good in the world.

Many parents feel like their children are growing up too fast with the help of social media. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram give kids access to endless information and content. Kids today know more, but they are also at risk of encountering ideas that may affect the speed of their psychological and social development.

While some of the things they see aren’t necessarily harmful, the biggest question is how to ensure your young ones are interacting with content that is age-appropriate and conducive to their development. Here’s how social media is making children grow up too fast and what you can do about it.

Ways Social Media Making Kids Grow Up Too Fast

While helpful educational tools and people are producing interesting content that can benefit people of all ages, misinformation and dangerous content will inevitably abound in that same space. According to an All About Cookies survey, 50% out of 1,000 parents felt that the internet makes kids grow up too fast.

Here are a few examples of what kids are exposed to on social media and how it can cause them to skip pivotal stages of their growth:

Risky behavior: Since the prefrontal cortex is the last to mature, your child’s emotional and impulsive regions are still developing, which means they may have higher impulsivity and lower ability to weigh potential risks carefully. While influencers can be grown adults who know the consequences of their actions, kids may put themselves in unnecessarily risky situations for the thrill and excitement they see online.

Makeup and fashion: Younger children are learning how to do their makeup and may want to dress according to adult fashion trends, whereas pretend makeup and fruity lip gloss may have sufficed in previous years. This may make kids feel they must alter their appearances to be considered presentable or beautiful.

Eating disorders: Anyone can post about their exercise or eating habits online, and it isn’t always healthy. Content ranges from information about intermittent fasting and juice cleanses — which may be helpful for adults but pose health risks to children — all the way up to models who eat raw liver and half-boiled chicken to keep in shape.

Comparison: Constant exposure to curated content depicting success, beauty and happiness may make kids feel their lives are less than others. The pressure to live up to unrealistic standards for online validation may contribute to adolescent body image issues, low self-esteem and anxiety.

Mature content: The more children are active online without limits to what they see, the more they will encounter inappropriate content in the form of violent videos, suggestive imagery and music, and adult jokes.

Fostering Healthy Social Media Use

While social media may be causing kids to grow too fast, there are ways to support your little ones limit social media’s influence, teach them how to think critically, and decide how it impacts them and their choices. Some people suggest they shouldn’t use social media at all, but keeping them away is almost impossible. The best thing you can do is review your little one’s social media accounts and access them occasionally.

You know how your child understands the world, and what they need to be healthy emotionally and mentally. Content that’s appropriate for them may not be so for another child.

Be transparent with your kids, create a safe and open space to discuss what they see, and guide them on healthy social media usage. Teach them to think critically, recognize their mental and emotional states, and take breaks as necessary. Too much screen time can negatively affect mental health, so they must get away for a time. Encourage alternate, extracurricular activities like reading physical books and joining clubs more than spending time on a screen.

Why It’s Important to Develop Healthy Social Media Habits

When you think about how much time kids spend online, you see social media’s impact on their growing minds. Their reasoning abilities are still developing, so they may have challenges differentiating between reality and staged content.

In addition, a still-developing prefrontal cortex means they’re still learning how to regulate their emotional responses to social rewards. With positive shares, likes and comments readily available for people who represent themselves in certain ways, they may feel they must be the same way to be liked or valued in society.

Popularity online may cause children to skip the pivotal awkward stage where they figure out who they really want to be as they grow. Receiving constant likes and comments is different from a compliment from a friend in person and may wire their brain to follow the social rewards of online popularity.

Help Your Kids Use Social Media Healthily

Social media is here to stay and although it has adverse effects, there are also many ways it can be helpful, positive and educational. The key is to help your children develop good habits that support their mental and emotional health as they grow.

Author bio:  Cora Gold is the Editor-in-Chief of women’s lifestyle magazine, Revivalist. She strives to live a happy and healthy life with her family by her side.
Follow Cora on Facebook and LinkedIn.

We live in a digital age, with new technology developing faster than we can keep up. Information and entertainment are available at our fingertips through the Internet. As a result, many people have gotten used to the instant gratification that comes with scrolling social media–especially kids who have grown up with it.

It often seems like kids can’t focus as well as they used to, which some think is a result of social media and screen use. Does social media decrease kids’ attention? The answer is more complicated than you might think.

Where Do Attention Spans Come From?

Everyone gets distracted, often at certain times of the day. It’s why energy drink advertisements talk about “that 2:30 feeling” or “the afternoon slump.” You’ll have periods when you feel more productive and energetic and others where almost anything can bring you out of the task at hand. The same goes for kids.

When babies are born, their brains have 100 billion neurons. While they arrive well-equipped, they spend their early years learning to make connections between those neurons. Your child’s brain develops as they have interactions and experiences.

We take in more information in the first five years of life than the rest of it put together. The brain will create new connections throughout the first decade, and its cells will grow.

How Social Media Affects Children’s Attention Span

Kids get easily distracted because their brain uses all the input around them to create a neural network that will guide their thoughts and actions throughout their life — social media or no social media, that would be the case. However, social media can often make it worse.

Sleep Deprivation

Circadian rhythm affects our kids’ attention span. When tired, children are less likely to pay attention to things. Adults need between seven and nine hours each night, but kids need between nine and 14 hours, depending on their age and routine.

Since their brains take in so much information during the day, a good night’s sleep is vital to correctly processing it. If not, they could get stuck processing yesterday’s information as they’re exposed to even more. Staying up late on social media is a major distraction that can cut into precious sleep time.

Plus, blue light from screens can impact sleep quality. The light suppresses melatonin — a hormone needed for deep, adequate sleep. Experts recommend putting away all devices two to three hours before bed, so their brain has enough time to unwind before sleep.

Habit

Both kids and adults with devices can fall into scrolling social media as a habit. What started as something to check in on a few times a day became something we look at in any free moment. For some, having a device within reach makes them want to check their Facebook or Instagram accounts or scroll through TikTok.

Devices are an easy, quick fix for overwhelmed parents. A phone or tablet can be a savior on a road trip or when waiting for an event. However, the more kids get used to filling that empty time with streaming and social media, the more their brains will fall into the habit of always using it.

There’s a reason experts recommend limited screen time for kids. Too much multimedia multitasking with social networks, games and videos can negatively impact sensorimotor development, executive functioning and academic abilities. Getting into a habit of accessing the devices can prevent them from learning emotional regulation, environmental observation and other vital skills. With constant stimulation, the brain never gets the chance to get creative.

Kids and adults are now getting many small bits of information instead of a few long segments. When kids aren’t used to listening to a lesson or playing a lengthy game, they’ll find it harder to focus when they need the discipline to be academically and professionally successful.

Time management is one of the most essential skills for academic success. However, many students struggle with focus and tend to procrastinate, often wasting time on the Internet.

Social media can become an addiction for some kids, where their brains release dopamine when checking a platform. The desire to do it takes them away from experiencing the moment.

Anxiety

While some social media platforms have kids-specific apps that filter out vulgar language or photos, they can’t filter out the comparisons that begin at a young age. From toddlerhood, kids notice when someone else has something they don’t.

The fear of missing out can distract kids from what they have and the path ahead. Everyone is different, but impressionable young minds don’t always see it that way. Teenagers, in particular, face risks of cyberbullying over their posts and strive to mimic influencer attitudes and experiences — even if they don’t represent who they are.

Anxious comparison affects the attention span by putting the nervous system on edge. Research shows that anxiety from social media can create similar symptoms to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It keeps their mind from focusing on learning, chores or even entertainment. Social networking sites’ different posts, photos and hashtags constantly occupy them.

Helping Your Kids Improve their Social Media Activity

It’s clear how social media impacts attention spans, especially among children. Working with kids to improve their habits and lengthen their focus is important. Practicing being away from screens and engaging in longer activities with them can help them break the habit. Make a few small changes and the difference in their attention span may surprise you.

Author bio:  Cora Gold is the Editor-in-Chief of women’s lifestyle magazine, Revivalist. She strives to live a happy and healthy life with her family by her side.
Follow Cora on Facebook and LinkedIn.