- I have four children, two of them are adolescents. I don’t want any of them using social media.
- The risks of adolescent intimidation and my own experiences with online threats have led me to this decision.
- My 16 -year -old child recently thanked me for having protected him from anxiety that his peers have known.
I have four children, aged 8 to 16. I am that Mom, the one who will not leave my children social networks. Of course, my teenagers have placed adjustments to my rule several times. However, I am grateful to keep myself.
I have been an influencer since blogs made their debut. Social media has been both a gift and a curse for 15 years. Yes, I can use social media to promote my work as a writer, but with an online presence is also degrading, ignorant and sometimes threatening comments And the messages of total of foreigners.
Countless articles boast how access to social media offers an open season to intimidationDiscrimination, harassment, traffic and security threats – in particular for adolescents who can be more vulnerable in these situations. I knew, according to my own experiences, that social media is not extremely a safe space for adolescents and I did not want my own children to have part of this world.
At the start, my teenagers hated me
My teenagers, from the beginning of the college, did not understand why, according to them, everyone could have had Social media accounts But they didn’t do it. They begged me, ensuring that they would always use social media for positive interactions with peers, entertainment and information. They would not share their personal information or interact with foreigners.
My teenagers, now aged 14 and 16, felt that I was unfair and too strict. I certainly sympathize with their feelings, remembering when I thought that my own parents were not fair for me, like not to be attended at the pajama evening or go out when I was in college, but I kept hard My decision
We have revisited the subject several timess
I am not a parent “because I said it”. I took the time to answer the complaints of my adolescents – uh, questions – about the reasons why social media are not, or even above all, all fun and games. I shared concrete examples of what happened to me, especially insults, train fishing and even threats to my security. If I am an adult who takes care of these problems, imagine adolescents, whose brains are not entirely developed, using social media, I explain to them. I also re-explained the dangers, including cat fishing, intimidation and even reception of a lot of information on important subjects. I encountered eye roles.
I have my reasons
We live in a digital world, which is why some parents give their children, even those younger than adolescents, all clear to freely use social media. “They must learn in one way or another, this is how society is now,” said other parents.
I do not agree with this line of thought. We know that a person’s brainIn particular the reasoning part, only fully develops around 25 years old. My older child is nine years old in their new “reasonable” brain. Why would I let my teenagers be exposed to many dangers and influences when they are not ready for the brain?
One of my teenagers thanked me recently
Surprisingly, not so long ago, my 16 year old daughter thanked me for not having let her have social networks, especially during her college years where she constantly begged me for access. When she matured and observed her peers who have social media, she noticed some of the benefits of adolescents obsessed with what is published On Instagram, Snapchat or Tiktok.
I believe in “Never Say Never”. I can facilitate my rule or change my mind at some point and allow my adolescents very limited and well supervised social networks with progressive access. I want them to learn self -control, listen to their intuition and learn to balance an online presence with real life. To raise adolescents is to train them to become adults. However, for the moment, the rule suits us.