Why Parents Should Monitor Social Media of Teens?

Modern technologies have bought us many amusements and advancements that we enjoy. It has made our lives convenient and feasible. But, with so many great things, it has also bought us unforeseen challenges that we are still learning to deal with. As adults, we might have made peace with the correct use of these technologies especially social media, but the challenges remain the same for us when we welcome our child into this digital world.

The debate of whether parents should monitor social media of their teens or not has always been a hot topic and is not over yet. Still today, some parents think that their kids must become mature and responsible by using social media and the internet on their own. They have this confidence that they can learn on their own and be better at it. But, then others know the consequences of doing this.

There are parents out there who have now realized that social media is not only associated with the fun part of chatting and sharing, but it can bring upon many big dangers that can seriously harm their kids. Kids don’t see this neither they will understand but it the responsibility of parents to take care of them when they can’t.

Why Parents Should Monitor the Social Media of Their Kids?

The internet is filled with the potential for kids to be exposed to the wrong sort of content, along with other dangers like cyberbullying and harassment. The availability of negative interactions on the internet is quite vast on the web. Parents must not just sit idle and wait for their kids to encounter these things alone as they might collapse.

Here are some of the reasons for you to monitor social media of kids and teens:

·The Internet Is Permanent

Kids are kids; they make poor decisions all the time and sometimes those decisions stay there to come back one day haunting them. This is what happens on the internet. They don’t realize it now, but everything they are sharing and posting will stay there no matter how embarrassing they feel after a few years.

After a few years, your teenager will not be the same person as they are now. They will apply for jobs and positions, and employers look into social media to analyze the personality of the candidate. This might be not good for your kids if they have posted silly and embarrassing stuff there.

·Cyberbullying

If you are unaware of the things that are happening to them on their social media account, how will you help them? Cyberbullying is one of the most common practices over social media and it is uncontrollable for kids most of the time.

When someone decides to humiliate your kid no matter what might be the consequences, it might be difficult for the kid to handle it. They are just kids; they don’t know how to respond when someone is continuously degrading them or telling them horrible things about themselves. Today, kids get attracted to the luxury but they hardly see the bombardment of dangers coming towards them with it.

·Online Predators

Online predators are strangers lurking around the internet to look for innocent kids. They play nice with these kids, develop a relationship with them, and then lure them into doing inappropriate things.

They present themselves most appealingly to the child and take the proper time to develop the relationship over time. Such type of contacts is often made on forums where anonymity is possible. Often, they make fake accounts to get the kids to like them.

·Sexting

Sexting makes its place in other types of texts. Teens are particular more indulged in this because they seek relationships that seem connected and emotional. Little do they know that these relationships don’t last for long. But, they do different stuff to get along with these connections. One of the most common practices they do is sexting.

Sending inappropriate texts, videos, and photos to each other to impress the other person is the common basis of sexting. These texts are often of sexual nature which can bring humiliation if revealed later.

·Limited Social Interactions

Kids when getting used to the relationships and connections over the internet, hardly carry on their real-life relationships like that. They are more connected, emotional, and indulged in their online relationships. They start thinking that these are the real ones and nothing else matters. Later in life, when they have to face real life, making real relationships, they find it very difficult. They end up being anti-social and hardly find interest in making real social life work.

With these things happening to your kid, how can you leave them unguided? Do you think they can handle all this on their own? They are just kids who hardly know these dangers and they are there for entertainment only.

·How to Monitor Social Media?

Parents must take immediate steps to guide their kids and protect them from these dangers. There have been cases reported where kids have even tried to commit suicide because of the things they faced on the internet.

Parents must stay connected to their kids so that they can on the same page whenever any troubling matter comes up. There are plenty of parental control apps out there that can fulfill this purpose. You can monitor your kids’ social media easily along with their texts and calls. SecureTeen is one of the most efficient parental control apps that can provide you many services in this regard.

SecureTeen also allows you to manage their screen time and look after them when they don’t know what is going on with them. You can keep an eye on them easily and engage whenever necessary. Along with it, you ought to develop a good relationship with them so that they can know that they can trust you.

Reference Articles:

https://www.familyorbit.com/blog/parents-monitor-childrens-social-media/

https://www.debate.org/opinions/should-parents-monitor-their-childrens-social-media

https://www.secureteen.com/social-media/teens-and-social-media