Parents share their worries about raising children in an age of technology and social media

Raising children in 2020 is very different to raising children when I was growing up. Of course, that’s not to say one time was harder than another when it comes to raising children. It’s always tough at times and parents will always face difficulties. Whether that’s technology, being street savvy or something else.

When my sister and I were growing up, we’d happily explore the streets, parks, woodland and other areas where we lived with our friends. We’d stay out all day and only return home when we were either hungry or when it started to get dark.

In some ways 2020 is safer. I mean more children have mobile phones so they’re easier to get hold of and track, but that also means children have access to so much more technology and social media than ever before. I asked a handful of parent bloggers to share their concerns with me about raising children in an age of technology and social media. Here’s what they said:

Tiney from Growing Clan: “people pretending to be someone else, it’s so easy to pretend to be someone completely different so always know exactly who you are adding/following and keep it strictly to people who you know in person. Also don’t put to much information about your life online you never know who is watching your online movements.”

Nikkie from Recipe from Home: “Take the presentation of other people’s lives with a pinch of salt. No-one looks that good or has that much fun or is that happy all the time. It’s a moment in time and not the whole picture. Don’t think you or your life is not as good or worthy as someone else’s just because that is the picture they are portraying of themselves.”

Emma from Ready Freddie Go: “How they can loose so many hours sucked in looking at a screen. Some days it’s a chore to get my kids outside and this is just when they have been on tablets or watching tv too long, which is just the tip of the iceberg as their schools are turning screen based eventually!”

Jodie from Maidenhead Mum: “I worry about how long things can be tracked back for- teenagers today need to be so careful of what they post in case it turns up in a job interview or can be used against them. I’m quite glad that there aren’t photos from my youth freely available! I would advise them to think twice about what they share publicly- create private groups to share with friends or keep some things private if they can.”

Amy from All About a Mummy: “The potential to lose or not develop face to face social skills. I see groups of kids standing together all staring at their phones which is sad and worrying.”

Katherine from Raising Harry: “The reliance on tech. Growing up I had reference books and fiction books and it was wonderful. Although we had the internet and computers if we couldn’t access them we could still manage to do our homework or whatever get to a new place with a map but I worry that my son won’t be able to. My biggest advice would be to learn to cope without tech. Don’t become reliant on it.”

Erica from Things to do in Kent: “That people don’t actually look l like that in real life, filters are commonplace. That people generally only share the happy or exciting things on social media so don’t believe everything you see.”

Emma from Sunshine and Rain: “It worries me that no matter how I raise my children, once they reach school age they are going to want to have everything that their friends do. The pressure to have a phone was around when I was at school and that was a long time ago now, before social media really kicked in, so I can only imagine how bad things are today”

Clare from Travel Bugs: “I worry about my children never being able to ‘switch off’. I’m definitely boarderline addicted to social media and really don’t want that for them. I want them to be able to take it or leave it and enjoy real life without checking their phones all the time!”

Kasia from Oh Mummy Mia: “I hope my boy will be able to see that real life is more interesting and most of the things he will see on social media are far away from true life. I want him to not spend his precious time on social media I want him to go out with his friends in real life not on Instagran etc. But I’m also affraid off those stupid things like dumb challenges I can’t believe that some kids are able to eat washing pod only to win a challenge…I hope he will be able to see valuable things on social media not those stupid ones.”