Kids and Social Media, Yet Again

Image by NativeMainah via Flickr

Technology Thursday

Kids and the Internet. Let's chat about this again. What to let them do? How long to let them hang out online? How much screentime? How much social networking? When do they get a private email account? And so on. Andy Affleck recently wrote a post about how he's approaching these issues with his 10-year-old son.

His generation will be far more connected than mine is, or the one in between us. Why should we hold off on introducing him to that world? It’s going to play such a significant role in his life, it seems to me that his education should begin sooner. If he is to be truly successful in the world when he comes of age, he should be armed to the teeth with knowledge and skills. Of course, the big issue is his age. He and his peers are too young.

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When our children go out into the world at this age, they never do it alone. We accompany them. I go with my son when he needs to go to the store. I take him to his play dates. I take him to his scouting and karate events. Or he goes with another parent. They are never left alone without adult supervision. This is to keep them safe and to make sure that nothing bad happens.

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we should be starting to walk our kids into this online world the way we walk them into the real world. Let them get online but supervise them. Allow them to start exploring and learning how the online world works but stay with them on this journey until you can let them go alone, the same way we are already doing this in the real world. If you see bullying in the real world, you call the parent of the offending child and hope that they will do something about it. If you see it online, you can do the same thing.

I think this is exactly right--speaking without experience, just in anticipation of my iPhone-happy toddler wanting to play computer games with his friends in the future. Recently a friend of mine was asked by her 6-year-old niece to be friends on Facebook. My friend declined the request, in part because she doesn't want to feel like she has to censor herself on Facebook all the time. As I've written before, there are options other than Facebook for the younger set who want to experiment with social networking and social media. But apart from the question of when kids should do certain things, is, of course, the question of how - and the suggestion that forays onto the Internet be accompanied by adults, while time-consuming for the adults, seems an eminently sensible strategy. We'll see how it works out as my toddler gets older and demands every more autonomy, though!

Comments

[Sharon Baumeyer]

I think each child reaches a maturity to handle the internet at different ages. However, it is extremely important to have the right settings on the computer to make sure they are not accidentally directed to something extremely inappropriate. If it is a tool and a skill set they need to learn, then treat it that way. Start it out as a way to help them with their homework,research an animal or something else fun together. If done right, this can be a great experience shared between parents and child while also being very beneficial.