How to Teach Your Children About Social Media Safety

In this era of digital age, we are very close to residing in a virtual

world and our children are becoming more and more tech- savvy, it’s
very important that parents maintain a vigilant sense of security
when it comes to their children’s online presence.

If your child is already using social media or wants to use social

media, check out these seven tips for keeping them safe on social
media.

1. Find out what media apps your kid is using and try them
yourself: Study how these apps work and what kind of
interactions take place on each platform. Have your child walk
you through a session on his or her account and take interest
on their daily online activities.

2. Ask other parents what social media platforms their kids are
using: If an app is popular with all your kid’s friends, then
chances are good that your child is on it too and using it
extensively.

3. Stay informed and updated about the latest cyber security

news: Subscribe to a parenting or security blog that focuses on
social media safety to learn about the latest apps and security
information to keep your child safe.

4. Don’t give up: It’s very important that you don’t let your
interest in your child’s social media activity fall by the wayside
when life gets hectic for you or your child does not want you to
intervene. Just like you wouldn’t skip one of your child’s
 recitals, you shouldn’t let your guard down regarding your
child’s online safety. It’s that important.
5. Set up rules for accessing social media : To keep your child safe
ensure that social media activities doesn’t interfere with your
child’s homework or other responsibilities, you need to
establish some basic rules for when and where your child can
go online and restrictions on extensive use. Also, only using
social media on a family or a safe computer would be necessary
to monitor activity and safeguard interests.

6. Teach your kid about posting on media sites. Educating them

that deleting a post does not mean it’s permanently gone. All
their online posts, comments, likes, and shares are a part of
their digital footprint which would always stay stored
somewhere. Posting inappropriate content could impact their
online reputation. It may not seem like a big deal now, but it
could potentially hurt them when they get older and enter
college or the job market.

7. Tell your kids about the importance of privacy. Many social

media sites request too much personal information. Teach your
children how much personal information is too much and
remember that these types of personally identifying
information, if exposed in a data breach, could make them
vulnerable to identity theft.