Kids and teens are spending more time on social media than it has ever been. While steps have been taken to restrict or even ban young users on the platform, it has proven time and time again to be ineffective.
Now, it is time to take another approach, something much "healthier" and encouraging children, to keep their time on social media a bit less.
Limit Content Exposure
The best way to limit social media's harmful effects on your children is to lessen their exposure to all types of content that they see.
The difficulties in monitoring children on social media can be pointed to the platforms' algorithm recommending people new content based on their past engagements or the number of interactions the post has.
This often exposes young minds to adult content using similar tags to children-oriented videos and posts or because it is a trending topic on the platform.
To limit unwarranted posts popping up in your children's feed, restrict their access to accounts that they only follow.
Parents can even control which accounts are visible on their children's social media feeds to make sure only certain types of videos and posts are accessible.
In this way, parents can be assured that their kids are not being exposed to indecent or harmful content even without constant monitoring.
Keep Children Away from Chatbot Features
Most social media apps have recently integrated chatbot features to supposedly help users better navigate content and algorithms on the platform.
While these features can be helpful to adult users, it is not always the same for children.
Most AI chatbots often encourage users to keep interacting with them, a problem that is already present with regular social media. Since the chatbots are also equipped with the social media's algorithm, they can also expose children to content their parents initially blocked.
This is not to mention all the safety and privacy issues the technology entails as generative AI often collects huge amounts of information from its users to perform better according to their preferences.
The chatbot features can be disabled in the app's settings or via parental control.
Make Social Media Boring
Children, like adults, often go to social media for a quick source of entertainment. It is just that the platform provides so much of that entertainment in short succession that many users usually find themselves stuck scrolling for hours.
To ease this problem, the best way could be to discourage the children themselves from ever using the apps.
Modify their algorithms to content children are not interested in and train the algorithm to recommend more of the same content to their feed.
This way, kids would be less likely to spend their time on the platform being fed with the quick dopamine it can provide.
Lessen the Household's Dependence on Devices
Parents are the children's first model. This does not change in guiding people as they get introduced to the online world.
This is not to say that parents need to be stricter with children having phones or computers, but rather encourage them to not use their devices all the time by setting an example.
If children, especially younger ones, see that their parent is using their phones less, they are likely to be influenced to do the same.
Becoming a Parental Guide
If all else fails, a good heart-to-heart talk with your child can still prove an effective method in making them understand the dangers of online spaces.
More often than not, children are already aware of the dangers and implications of social media at their age. They just need to have an adult who can guide and understand their journey in the digital world.
To bridge the distance between generations, parents can try to share similar hobbies and interests their children have online, interact with them more even on social media, and provide a safe space online.
Related Article : How Big Tech Companies Should Safeguard Children on Their Platforms
