Children do not belong on social media

The age in which TikTok requires their users to be is at least 13 years old.

Anyone under the age of 18 must have approval of a parent or guardian — but there are plenty of young tween users.

The age in which Instagram requires their users is 13 years old.

Personally I think 13 is too young, but that’s a whole other blog post.

Unfortunately plenty of children under the age of 13 have their own social media accounts. Whether it be TikTok, Instagram, You Tube or another social media platform. I’m aware that some of these children’s parents manage the accounts on behalf of their children, but there are also plenty of parents who don’t.

Sadly the world we live in is full of technology and for the most part that’s a good thing. Social media however is where technology falls flat on its face when it comes to protecting our children’s mental wellbeing.

Bullying is rife online, but imagine you’re a child under the age of 13 with a social media account. Your ‘friends’ or school peers send you hurtful messages online. How would you feel?

Bullying has, and sadly will always be around. The best we as parents can do is raise our children to be respectful, kind adults. Unfortunately some children aren’t raised this way. For whatever reason that is, we as parents have a duty to ensure that if we allow our children to have social media accounts that they’re being used responsibly.

It’s easy for a child to send a hurtful message and then delete it before it can be read by their parents, but there are things you can do to ensure your child behaves responsibly online.

First up. Don’t tell them the password. That way if they want to log on, post a picture, send a message etc, they can do so with your supervision.

Secondly, if your child is online and received a hurtful/hateful message, the first thing to do is take a screenshot and then block the sender. By doing this you can approach the parents or school to rectify the situation and also prevent the sender from sending further messages.

I think it’s such a scary world for children to grow up in. When I grew up the only technology I had was a tape recorder, Sony Walkman and a Motorola phone with the worlds smallest, pixelated screen, and the biggest keyboard you can think of.

Yes, we had MySpace and MSN but in my world, I didn’t use it. Perhaps that’s a sign of the time I grew up in, but in nowadays so many children see their parents with their phone glued to their hand that it’s no wonder so many follow in the same footsteps. There’s that saying. ‘Monkey see, monkey do’. Lead by example. Teach your children how to use social media responsibly, but most importantly, teach them to be kind.