Growing Up Fast – Social Media Scares

If there’s one thing any parent can agree on these days, it’s the fact that the internet can be an extremely scary place. However, though it may be scary, we still end up using it and surfing the web every single day. It’s like an addiction that nobody can stop, like mine. I have to get online at least once a day otherwise I’ll feel like I’m losing touch with the world. Though, I’ll admit, others may have a better grasp on whether or not to spend time on the internet or not.

Have you ever heard the expression “Monkey see, monkey do”? This applies directly to the young ones. Almost like a “Follow the Leader” type of deal. When going online, our little kids want to go online because they “see” how much stuff we can do, how much fun we are bound to have. We figure there’s no harm in letting them online to show what interesting things they can do like games, puzzles or even something with educational value. It’s good for them to get out there, but you also become wary about keeping them safe. If you’re looking for some kind of help, go ahead and read my previous article Parental Control for some ideas.

Of course, if you have read my article, then you know I mean business when it comes to online dangers. Things like viruses, malware and spyware are tough cookies, but not seriously dangerous once you have them cleaned up. These days I consider social media more of a threat to children and teens than anything else when they’re online.

As adults, we know too well all the different kind of dangers that can befall any child. I hear news or reports on children all the time. When they go missing, some are found. Others never make it home. They’re either kidnapped, runaways or seen one minute but gone the next. It’s sad when you think about all these bad things happening that you wanna just grab your child, no matter how old they are, and just hold them tightly in an embrace until they shout that they need air. (Which I do on occasion to reassure myself that the kids are in my visual space.) And some of these scares are because of our children’s social media interaction with everyone else in the world.

Social media has several platforms in which children can interact with others world-wide. Out there we’ve all discovered Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and Snapchat. During my old school days we had MySpace, Yahoo Messenger, AIM and hundreds of different kinds of chatrooms. Luckily these days, many of the social medias have age restrictions which means that young children are forbidden from creating any type of account, especially without parental consent. But even with the luck of this, kids still find loopholes around these limitations and somehow end up interacting with the rest of the world.

As parents and guardians, it’s our job to keep them safe. Of course, we also want them to interact and socialize with others. Growing up, I enjoyed meeting new people and learning about different religions, heritages, cultures and so forth. But that was mostly taught to me in school or by people I knew. Sure I went on the internet to do research but I was never allowed to interact with strangers online per my own parents request and rule.

How many parents can raise their hand and say that they never allow their children freedom with strangers? I bet almost all of you would raise your hands. But while kids have access to social media, they are in plenty danger of strangers.

Have you ever heard of a YouTube star named Coby Persin? He was one of my inspirations for writing about dangers online. These past couple years, Coby has done several different kinds of social media experiments. Two of them were with parents cooperation about what would happen if your child went to meet someone online in person.

For parents, I want you to watch the videos that were social experiments for children meeting strangers in person from online websites. Then if you feel like it, share with your children so they know of online dangers of social media interaction. Click HERE for the Social Experiment involving dangers to girls and click HERE for the dangers to boys.

Trust me! Maybe watching these videos will open your children’s eyes to the words “Stranger Danger”.