Teens and Social Media: How to Limit Risk

Double-edged sword: social media and teens

What are the risks that young people can face?

We show you how to limit these risks

Social media is often a means by which young people they interact or they communicate with their colleagues, friends or family who are in other places, and it is usually a platform that is available to anyone with a mobile device.

Young people are, most of the time, in a period in which they are still discovering their interests, tastes and motivations, and it is not uncommon for them to spend many hours a day consuming the information they find there. There are various applications such as Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram in which you can find information of all kinds; unfortunately, none of them is exempt from representing a danger for users, especially for the youngest.

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Knowing this, you might ask yourself what are the best ways to reduce the risks that networks can bring young people? The answer is not simple, but it offers some ways to monitor and protect your loved ones from a trick on the internet, here we show you:

Follow their accounts

Although it sounds a bit strange, the best thing you can do to establish certain limits in adolescents and their lives is to follow them in the different accounts they have; It is true, you will not be able to protect them from everything, but let’s say it is a strategy that will allow you to know the way in which they interact, the information they share, the comments they receive and the dangers they may be facing. It is not about you commenting on all their posts, or «like» all their photos; it is enough to maintain a close circle with that virtual reality in which it is unfolding.

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Create protected accounts

It is important to create accounts for our teenagers and for ourselves, where people’s privacy is protected, that is, strangers who most likely live in remote places and whose intentions you do not know are accepted. One of the advantages of a protected account is to have the certainty that you will share the information only with those who make up your closest circle of friends.

Monitor and block suspicious followers

Even if our teenagers’ accounts and ours are protected, it is important to do a regular review of followers and try to block or report those who are unknown. You will easily identify them since they have strange names, with multiple numbers or because in their profiles they have not shared any type of information; They may be harmless, but you don’t want a stranger on the other side of the world to steal precious information from your teen’s account.

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Create an environment of trust

Create an environment of trust with young people, so they will feel prepared to entrust you with those things they see, hear or write in any of their social networks. Remember that this is a crucial time when you will hear polarized opinions and have access to sensitive information that could create confusion. Let him know that you will be there to clarify any questions regarding politics, religion, education.

Set limits on what information is shared

Make an agreement with young people so that the information they share in networks is only for entertainment purposes; that is, make an agreement with your child not to share specific details of his life: the name of his parents, the street where he lives, his phone number, exact location or minor details such as specific characteristics that other people may use to put you at risk.

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