What You Can Do To Safeguard Your Child’s Social Media Influences

Concerned about your child’s social media habits and how it could be affecting their mental health? You’re not alone!

It goes beyond setting healthy screen time rules (though that’s important too!), curating content is more vital than ever when it comes to protecting the mental health of our little ones. Luckily, social media companies themselves are helping us to implement boundaries. Instagram’s new regulations for users under 16 in Hong Kong include measures like restricting direct messages from strangers, setting accounts to private by default, changing ad content to be age appropriate and enhancing parental controls. So what else can we be doing?

Read More: Best Child Psychologists, Therapists And Counsellors In Hong Kong

Setting Boundaries With Social Media And Screen Time

Implementing healthy screen time rules for children is essential for their well-being. But even then, it can be difficult to balance kids’ freedom to enjoy educational apps and videos while trying to avoid troubling content. Children today are digital natives, growing up immersed in technology, while most parents are digital immigrants, often feeling anxious about their kids’ screen engagement. The World Health Organization recommends no screen time for children under 2 and limited usage for toddlers and preschoolers, emphasising the importance of physical activity, proper nutrition and sleep.

In practice however, this isn’t always the case, which is why supervision is crucial to ensure that children engage with appropriate content that aligns with your family’s values. Keeping kids in shared spaces allows you to monitor their activities effectively – so you can see if something bizarre pops up on their screen and intervene, while explaining why it’s inappropriate.

As your children grow, involving them in setting screen time rules can lead to better results, as they may establish stricter limits than you might expect, and a sense of autonomy and accountability is important when raising independent children. However, if it goes the other way and you’re concerned about screen addiction, looks for signs of mood swings, sleep disturbances and social withdrawal. By being present and promoting healthy screen habits from a young age, you can help minimise future issues as you child becomes more engaged the internet and all the wonderful and terrible things it has to offer.

Read More: Distracted Parents In The Age of Screens — How To Model Phone Behaviours For Kids

The Importance Of Curating Content For Children On Social Media

If your child is on the ‘gram, the content they will be presented with is based on a number of factors, and the mixed bag they encounter can range from entertaining and educational to downright worrisome. There’ll be sponsored ads that you can’t really escape from (be aware that when your kid asks for a new toy or game, it could be because they saw an ad that’s just a little too convincing) and posts based on their demographics, but it’s also possible to angle their feeds so it is filled with more uplifting and joyous content. This will become vitally important to their overall mental health, especially as they grow.

First: Unfollow

Go through your child’s For You Page with them and encourage them to unfollow accounts that make them feel less happy and confident. Try to explain your decision-making as much as possible so they understand these are not arbitrary – especially if they push back because the account you want them to delete is “funny” but actually promoting harmful stereotypes or habits, for example – but well-intentioned and important for their self-esteem and development. Let them know that prioritising their mental health is okay, and they sometimes need to give a helping hand to their algorithm to know what they’re looking for.

Second: Find New Content

Next, help your child find fun but reliable sources of information. They don’t need to be bombarded with all the things going on in the world at a young age, but there’s no harm in educational content that is visually engaging and teaches them something new. You could try encouraging other avenues of info intake too, it doesn’t have to just be scrolling through Instagram, you could listen to an age-appropriate podcast together or find child-friendly websites that match their interests. Either way, we suggest doing a quick check of the history of the account or site, just in case!

Third: Explain Why

Lastly, try to have conversations in your home about the impact of social media marketing and how to recognise when you’re being sold to or genuinely interested in something that might add value to your life. Influencers (yes, they exist for kids too) are more often than not trying to sell something, and they tend to be pretty persuasive, especially to impressionable young minds. It’s a difficult concept for adults, let alone children, but try to get them to ask questions like “Do I really need this?” or “How does this make me feel?”. Hopefully, these habits will stay with them long after adolescence and you’ll raise socially conscious kids who know how to navigate the tricky world of social media!

Positive Social Media Accounts To Engage With A Healthier Feed

If you’re wondering which accounts you can to turn to promote a more educational and uplifting FYP for various ages, we have some ideas!

• National Geographic Kids, IG: @natgeokids
• Sesame Street, IG: @sesamestreet
• The Dodo, IG: @thedodo
• Storytime With Ms Booksy, Youtube: @coolschool
• GoNoodle, IG: @gonoodle
• Girls Who Code, IG: @girlswhocode
• Little Feminist Book Club, IG: @littlefeministbookclub
• Luna’s Little Library, IG: @lunaslittlelibrary
• Herstory, IG: @herstoryofficiel