Autism Soccer: Social Media and Children

He has access to almost unlimited information. Talk to your children and give them some guidance on what to look for.

You’ve probably heard or used them at least once today. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many other social media platforms are a prevalent part of the lives of everyone in the modern world, and more than 60% of the population spends a good time of their day checking their profiles, interacting with friends and strangers through these platforms. Now, for well seasoned adults this is not a problem, but for parents of small children, social media can be a real danger. Opportunistic predators, not child-proofed content and many other bad things can come their way if you don’t protect them from these platforms. But since they are so ingrained in the habits of the XXI century society, what can you do to make them safe in them?

It comes as no surprise that parents have requested these platforms to take a step into the fight to keep children safe. Enabling children-safe content policies, using filters, some even allow extensions or non-native apps to be installed in order to protect them from the dangers of the world. This however, comes as no substitute for the attention that only a concerned parent or caretaker might give. People with bad intentions can try to lure children with offers through their profile, or use innocently posted pictures as material to do harm to others.

The idea is that they are mature enough to comprehend what they can and can not share, what topics to talk about and what’s wrong to do on those platforms. You as a parent need to inform them about the dangers of using images to do harm, and help them understand the powers and the dangers of it. This however, does not mean that after giving them a talk you can let them use social media freely, no. Take a few minutes a day to monitor their profiles if they use them unsupervised. Sometimes children can not see how something apparently innocuous such as phone numbers and other personal data can generate trouble.

At Autism Soccer we encourage the safe use of social media platforms. After all, they will be in the horizon for years to come, and will help children and adults alike get information in an instant, with the help of tablets and smartphones. They can be used to create wonderful things, and to enrich the experience of children with the world. Just remember to keep an eye open and generate the necessary trust for them to come to you when they feel something isn’t right on their social media profiles.