IS YOUR CHILD SAFE ON SOCIAL MEDIA???

PARENTING TUESDAY

i  watched my 8year old cousin shuffle  the Internet with her ipad, and i must say i was very impressed,but on a second thought i asked my self is it safe out there for these innocent kids. its good they get familiar with technology at a very early age as the whole world revolves around it now. but i must confess we need to face the truth ,its not safe out here for these kids.the other day i wanted to search for how to make afang soup,as soon as i typed how to on goggle the drop down options that came out were... how to make love, how to kiss, how to bla bla bla i was so surprised and out of curiosity i diverted my attentions to the other options,my dear what i saw on those websites are not encouraging. as if that was not enough i got up to three pop ups on the computer screen, one was a pornography picture then the other two were online dating sites asking us to join within 2mins.even though facebook's minimum age requirement is 13 but there are over 5million underage users. because these kids are smarter than we were when we were their age, so thinking they are too young to pull such stunts is a little more underrated.

here are some social media  statistics 

The average age when a child begins regularly consuming online media is 8 

 Even though Facebook’s minimum age requirement is 13, there are about 5 million users under the age of 10 

•  About 10 hours and 45 minutes per day are spent online (for 8-18 years old) 
•  25% of teens log into to social media 10+ times per day 
•  51% of children say they’ve been bullied online, and 49% say they have been the online bully 
• Only 50% of parents have installed parental controls for their children online interactions, but 
• 72% worry that their children will reveal inappropriate information online 

88% of teens value social media because it helps them keep in touch with friends they don’t see often                                                                                                                                             Another potential risk of social media has been dubbed "Facebook depression." When preteens and teens spend too much time on social media sites, they may begin to show classic signs of depression, such as changing sleep and eating habits, experiencing mood swings, hanging out with different friends or becoming socially isolated, according to O'Keeffe.

 parents need to have open discussions with their children and teens about their online media use, parents probably don't need to be "hyper vigilant" about computer use. "We don't keep an eye on our children all the time in real life. At some point, we have to take a certain comfort in the way that we've raised them, and have that confidence that they'll make appropriate choices," just guard them accordingly