We began the second session of our digital wellbeing by considering our experience of social media as adults and how we may compare our lives with the published social media lives of others.
We reflected on the following issues that social media presents for us and our children:
- Altered expectations
- Mixed messages
- Information overload
- On-all-the time
- Development of personal values
The challenge and the impact of social media on altered expectations and mixed messages is something that we have to be aware of for ourselves and our children. Taking the conversation a little closer to home, we then explored the concept of Sharenting, where parents share the life journeys of their children.
We then explored the impact that social media can have on our wellbeing, look at how we spend our time and whether it drains or energises us. The values we trying to instill in our children are important to consider in how we interact with social media and the way we want our children to be. The following video was a provocation to consider these issues:
Questions to ask your child before allowing them to open a social media account:
- What is the recommended age? (are they under age?)
- Is your child resilient enough to handle negative online experiences like cyberbullying, drama and abuse?
- Does s/he understand the importance of privacy and how to protect it online?
- Does s/he know how to report abuse behaviour online?
- Is s/he happy for you to establish rules and boundaries and to monitor use?
- Have you talked to her/him about online pornography?
- Have you talked to her/him about racism and other forms of hate speech online?
- Have you provided good mentoring and role modelling for social media use specifically and device use generally?
- Which types of content they are allowed to post.
- How often they should post.
- How often you are comfortable with them checking social media.
- How to handle requests and messages from strangers.
- How to set privacy levels.
Learning About Social Media and Safety
The e-safety website: https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide has a great guide to the different types of platform, how they work, the age guidelines
Common Sense Media offers reviews and guidance for the platforms, with parent and child recommendations and tips
Family Media Tech Plan is another resource for families to consider.
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