Social Media Trap
Sometimes children get caught in the social media trap by believing that true friendships are made up of likes, shares and how many people follow them. Many of the texts, posts, and opinions that your children read can be misinterpreted and can become very personal and very hurtful.
As parents, it is important to understand how your children are navigating through the truths and the lies of social media. These questions are designed to give you insight into how social media is affecting them and will allow you to give them proper boundaries to keep them emotionally safe.
Table Topics
Question 1
What social media do you and your friends mostly like and post on?
Discover
TIP: Listen to the answer. You may discover a social media platform you have not even heard about. Follow up with why they like it and if they have heard of anything bad about the platform. Later, it may be important to investigate the social media platform and see what dangers might lie ahead.
QUESTION 2
Have you heard of social media communities that are bad and you should stay away from?
DISCOVER
TIP: Sometimes our children already know of social media platforms that are bad, and they can tell you why. This openness will allow you to encourage them in making the right choices about where they may be spending their time and building relationships.
If they avoid the question and are not open with the answer, this could be a red flag. You are uniquely qualified to parent your children so don’t feel bad if you need to check out what they are looking at.
QUESTION 3
Who, other than your friends from school, do you interact with on social media?
DISCOVER
TIP: Listen for who they might be in a relationship with on the sites they visit. Ask deeper questions and help them discover that many times the person they are chatting with or posting to may not be who they say. This left unchecked can be dangerous to their hearts and their purity.
Reflect
One day our daughter told a story at the dinner table about her friend from Texas who had a new boyfriend from California. We asked where they met and she said they met online through social media.
We talked openly with the kids about how this could be dangerous and asked if we should talk to her parents. After this girl’s mom discussed this with her daughter and did some investigating, she found this person was not only not from California but was much older and pretending to be the same age.
This was after three weeks of daily posting on the social media site with this stranger. Having open discussions with your children can protect them and make them aware of the traps of social media that are hurtful.
