In today's digital age, social media has become an integral part of middle schoolers' lives. While these platforms offer various benefits, they also come with potential risks that parents need to be aware of. Tuesday's Code Orange at our school was the result of inappropriate online behavior. Monitoring your child's social media activity might feel like an intrusion of their privacy, but it is a crucial step to ensure their safety and well-being in the online world, and it is a way that you can partner with school officials to keep our building safe.
Understanding the Importance
Cyberbullying: Middle schoolers are at a vulnerable age where cyberbullying can have significant emotional and psychological impacts. Monitoring their social media can help you identify signs of bullying and intervene in a timely manner.
Inappropriate Content: The internet hosts a wide range of content, not all of which is suitable for young eyes. By keeping an eye on their online interactions, you can minimize their exposure to explicit, violent, or inappropriate content.
Online Predators: Unfortunately, there are individuals who exploit social media platforms to target young users. Monitoring allows you to spot any unusual or suspicious conversations that might indicate an online predator's presence.
Digital Footprint: The internet never forgets. Teaching your child about responsible online behavior and monitoring their activity can help prevent them from sharing personal information that could harm their reputation in the future.
Ways to Monitor Your Child's Online Activities
Parental control features vary across different social media platforms, but many offer tools to help parents monitor and manage their child's online activities. Here's how you can use parental controls on popular platforms like Snapchat and Instagram.
SNAPCHAT
*Snap Map: Snapchat's Snap Map allows users to share their location with friends. To manage this feature for your child, open the app, pinch the screen to access the Snap Map, then tap the settings gear icon and enable "Ghost Mode" to prevent sharing their location.
*Privacy Settings: Snapchat provides various privacy settings. Encourage your child to set their account to "Private," which ensures that only approved friends can see their content and send them snaps.
*Friends Approval: Enable the "Only My Friends" option in the "Who Can..." section of the privacy settings. This ensures that only people your child adds as friends can send them snaps and see their stories.
INSTAGRAM
*Private Account: On Instagram, you can switch your child's account to private. This means that only approved followers can see their posts and stories.
*Restricted Accounts: Instagram allows users to restrict accounts. If your child restricts someone, their comments on their posts will only be visible to that person and your child, giving them more control over their interactions.
*Comment Filters: Instagram has a feature that allows users to filter and block certain keywords or phrases in comments, reducing the chance of encountering bullying or inappropriate content.
*Activity Status: Instagram has an activity status feature that shows when a user was last active on the platform. To manage this, go to settings, privacy, and then activity status. You can disable this feature if you feel it's necessary.
Remember, the goal of monitoring your child's social media activity isn't to invade their privacy, but to guide and protect them as they navigate the digital landscape. As a parent, you play a pivotal role in helping your middle schooler develop responsible online habits that will serve them well throughout their lives. It is estimated that approximately 93% of school violence has a root in online social media activity. As parents, you can help make our school safer by monitoring your child's online behavior and interactions!
