How to Be Smart About Social Media? [Tips to Parents for Their Children]

Here are some ways that you can teach your children how to be smart in using social media.

Using social media has become the norm today. Almost everyone has their accounts from different sites, even children and teens. Using social media helps people stay connected with their loved ones, keeps them entertained, meets, and interacts with different people and many others.

There is also a flip side to using social media. Cyberbullying can happen in social media, as well as other questionable and illegal activities. So, to keep your children from these bad things on social media, you need to teach them how to be smart in using it.

Being nice

Being mean to people without them doing anything wrong to you is never okay. Make sure that your children apply this when they are using social media. Tell them that you expect them to treat others with respect and never post anything that will harm or hurt anyone.

Although, make sure that they understand the difference between being nice and being too nice. In which the latter befriends almost everyone kids see and interact with online.

Think a lot before hitting that enter button

How to be smart in using social media? One way is by thinking twice or even more when you wanted to post something.

Remind your children that whatever thing they post online can be used against them. Also, tell them to avoid posting specific locations of parties or events that they are in and phone numbers, as this may pose threats to them.

Secure their profile

You can also teach your children how to be smart online by telling them to secure their profiles. Tell them to use complex passwords with alphanumeric and special characters.

Again, remind them not to log in to their accounts from devices that are not secure, such as in library computers and those that do not have virus and malware protection.

Most importantly, teach your kids not to share their passwords with other people, even to their best of friends or loved ones.

The use of privacy settings

Privacy settings exist because they are needed and essential. Go through them together to make sure that your children know what they are.

You can also explain to your children the importance of strong passwords to protect themselves from identity theft, especially today, where there are many fake and dummy accounts of people.

WWGS

One of the most important things to teach your kids how to be smart online is teaching them this WWGS method or the What Would Grandma Say method.

Teach them not to overshare and share things online that they would not want their grandma, parents, teachers, college admissions officers, and future employers to see.

As parents and adults, it is essential to look out for what your children are doing online. But, make sure that you do it the right way. Children may misunderstand your intention of merely looking out for them by only snooping into their activities online, leading to damaging their trust.

The key is to stay involved without being too pushy. Make kids understand that you respect their privacy and that you are just concerned about their safety.