Introduction
In today’s digital world, both children and adults are navigating their way through social media as it has become a way of life. This also includes and especially captures the attention of teenagers. Social media is a normal part of daily life for most teens, offering benefits alongside risks that kids and teenagers should avoid. It poses challenges for parents due to the evolving social media landscape and its ever-changing risks.
To keep children safe online, parents need to understand how their child uses social media and discuss the types of content they might encounter. In today’s blog, we’re going to explore some safe social media practices that teens should be aware of in order to make their internet experience secure. But before that, let’s look at some common concerns associated with social media especially for teenagers.
Common Cybersecurity Concerns For Teenagers
Here are a few common cybersecurity concerns that parents with teenagers must consider when establishing safe social media practices:
Over-Sharing Personal Information
Teens sometimes post information that could make them targets for online predators, including photos, names, location, school, date of birth, hobbies and interests. It could be due to a lack of communication and boundary setting from parents. This can lead to a negative impact on their present and future life, especially if they don’t understand the importance of digital footprint.
Online Strangers
Online strangers can pose as friends to gain access to personal information or attempt to exploit or harass teenagers. Not everyone they meet online has good intentions. There are many online predators hiding behind a screen who may find teenagers on social media and slowly try to persuade them into sharing personal information or coercing them into doing things that they don’t want to.
Cyberbullying And Harassment
Mean behavior is not acceptable, whether it’s happening online or in real life. While social media is a place of bewilderment, it can also be an easy space for cyberbullies to attack and disrespect teenagers. Cyberbullying usually happens through anonymous accounts who may either leave negative comments on your teenager’s posts if the account is public or may try to instigate them through chats.
Privacy Settings
Social media apps and websites typically offer privacy settings that can help you figure out how much of your personal information can be shared and used by the social networking application. Oftentimes, teenagers aren’t either aware of these privacy settings or don’t check them often, which can put their privacy and safety at risk while using social media.
6 Ways To Practice Social Media Safety For Teenagers
Following these six simple yet effective social media practices can help you create a healthy dynamic between your teenager and their social media usage:
Understand Social Media Use
Social media platforms and their features are constantly evolving. Learning about the social media platforms teens use and discussing the pros and cons of these apps with your child can help them understand how they can use social media more responsibly. Discuss the risks of posting details such as being home alone or vacation plans.
Kids may not understand that a simple post asking for a phone number may be from a malevolent source. Help them understand to not share personal information like phone numbers, location, and date of birth with strangers online, or with people they don’t know personally. You can also start with something simple like:
- Do not add personal details like phone numbers or date of birth to private profiles.
- Log out after using public computers.
- Disable features like posting to multiple social media sites at once.
- Keep passwords and log-in details private and not share these with friends.
Invest In A Password Manager
Since your teen is likely to have a dozen or more accounts on different social media websites, it can be difficult for them to keep track of all their passwords. Even if they use the same password for all the accounts, it can put their online safety at risk. In this situation, a password management system such as the Bitdefender Password Manager can offer features like data encryption, data import, online identity verification and management, synchronization across multiple accounts and devices, as well as secure password sharing to keep your social media activity safe and secure from cyber criminals.
If everyone in your home shares devices and uses the same home network, it might be downright essential to have a password management system in place to make your access to all the accounts seamless and fast.
Review Privacy Settings
Go through privacy settings with your child to ensure they are set to a comfortable level, and periodically review them. Use unique usernames that don’t include their actual name when creating accounts. This can add an extra layer of privacy to their social media accounts and can make it difficult for cyber criminals to find their accounts.
You can also make your teens social media safer by enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) for all their social media accounts. This will ensure that no hackers are able to access your child’s account, even if they somehow get hold of their passwords.
Establish Social Media Rules
Set rules for social media usage, including time limits, where social media can be used (e.g., only in communal areas), and what content is appropriate to share. You can use some or all of the points given below to structure your social media rules at home:
- Show respect in posts and when sharing content. Ask permission before posting images of others.
- Block and report people who post upsetting comments or content.
- Be aware of scams or sites that ask for personal or financial information.
- Only accept friend requests from people they know in real life.
- Screenshot anything disturbing which they see online and talk to a trusted adult about it.
Make sure to have open conversations with your kids about how to avoid strangers, how to prevent revealing too much about themselves, and general Internet safety as soon as possible. If you notice your teen’s mood has fluctuated, they are eating differently or isolating in their room, be prepared to talk about it. You must actively encourage them to have a life outside of the internet by spending time outdoors or engaging in hobbies that do not require the validation of social media.
Use A Reliable VPN
If you want to ensure that your teen’s personal information is protected at all times, using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service is your best bet. A VPN creates a secure connection between your IP address and the remote server of the website that you’re trying to access, masking your IP address and activity from unauthorized third parties, making your social media activity secure.
Lead by example and show your kids the right way to use a VPN. You can start by discussing that VPNs should be fast and have a no log option so that their activity stays anonymous. You can also help them pick quality services like Bitdefender VPN based on features like encryption across multiple devices, no traffic logs, disabling locations, and fast servers.
Monitor Social Media Accounts
Depending on your child’s age, consider asking for access to their social media accounts to monitor activities. As a compromise, you could ask them to add you as a friend so you can monitor their activities via your own account. Alternatively, you could use parental control apps like Bark, Qustodio, or Net Nanny to monitor social media activity. These tools can help track what platforms your child is using, who they are communicating with, and alert you to potential issues like inappropriate messages or harmful content.
Since you can’t always be with your child when they’re using social media, it’s essential that you find the right parental control apps to monitor their activities virtually. You can also block inappropriate websites and set screen time for your teens to help them develop a healthy relationship with social media.
Final Thoughts
While there’s no denying that social media is an important aspect of the life of teenagers living in today’s digital world, it also brings up a host of cybersecurity concerns, namely, cyber bullying, harassment, lack of privacy, over-sharing, and online predators. Parents should take a multipronged approach to social media management, including time limits, parental monitoring and supervision, and ongoing discussions about social media. Setting a good example through your own virtual behavior can go a long way toward helping your kids use social media safely.
Thank you for reading.
