Nowadays, children will be online their whole life. It starts before they are born when photos of their ultrasound are posted on social media by their parents. Their online presence will be apparent and they will have their first mobile before the age of five.
Online Parenting is a part of Parenting now.
Here are some statistics of technology use in children.
• 57% of four-year-olds in the UK use smartphones and tablets
• 12-15-year-olds send on average 289 texts per week.
• By the age of 7, the average child would have spent a whole year of their life on a device.
Today we will be talking about a child’s life on social media, how to set up Google’s SafeSearch option and, screen addiction.
The Pros of technology use in Children
- Digital media can boost children’s reading aged by 2.4 years, according to the university of Dundee.
- Researchers say social media enhances 21st-century skills such as communication, creativity, collaboration, leadership and technical proficiencies.
How will children react to their childhood being displayed on social media when they grow up?
When the toddlers of our generation grow into teenagers, do you think they will be happy about their whole lives being shown on social media? Perhaps there are hundreds of people seeing them grow up on a daily basis. What would that be like when they grow older? Knowing they have been observed all their life. Teenagers are often embarrassed by their baby photos anyway.
On the other hand, posting photos on social media is a great way to keep a permanent copy of them forever, and it’s good for family to see their newest member grow up on a more regular basis.
51% of parents who use Facebook to post about their children have thought about the embarrassment it could cause in later life
The hacks of 2016 that could still affect you.
How to set up Google SafeSearch
Go to Google and type in anything, then click on tools and choose ‘Turn on SafeSearch’.
How to make Facebook safer
Be careful who you accept as a friend on social media. It could lead to a Phishing attack.
1. Click on the arrow at the top right-hand side of the page and go to settings
2. Click on Privacy and you can then edit your privacy settings
Screen addiction
In China, various rehabilitation clinics have been set up to help young people shake off the addiction of technology. There have been various cases child psychiatrists have experienced in which a younger person displays similar withdrawal symptoms to those of a gambler when taken away from a screen.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation study in 2010, the average 8-10-year-old spends about 8 hours per day with a variety of different media.
Limiting your child’s screen time each day is a standard solution. A week long detox is usually recommended for children with screen addiction. There are various apps you can use to automatically limit a device’s screen time.