Social media has made the world a smaller place for sure. Connectivity has become more feasible today than ever. A decade back, you couldn’t even have imagined connecting with the people across the globe this easily. However, today it’s hard for us even to let a day go by without using social media. It has managed to dig its claws deep into us; having a hold so strong that it’s nearly impossible now to make your way out. This can be fatal to us in many ways as well.
If you look around, you can notice a large sum of people with their heads down, gazing at that blazing screen of their devices. The importance of boredom which once used to give birth to curiosity has been long forgotten. To entertain oneself amidst the monotony of life, one can just pull their phone out, and watch short reels to have that quick dopamine rush. However, there’s nothing wrong with the use of social media. But it shouldn’t exceed to the extent where one becomes a dopamine junkie, and vulnerable to the online risks.
The benefits offered by social media can not be weighted under its negative sides. However, it doesn’t mean that one should let the risks associated with its use go overlooked. The dangers of social media are very real. They can be recognized by adults fairly easily due to their better sense of judgment. However, children can’t be expected to do the same. Their young minds have no exposure to the outside world. Therefore, it will be unrealistic of us, as parents, to expect them to assess the risks and act accordingly.
But what kind of risks are we talking about here? Is using the internet in an uncontrollable manner could harm your children?
Let’s move ahead in the article to educate yourself further.
The Risks of Social Media Exposure Are Very Real
For most of the parents, the usage of social media by their children isn’t much of an issue. Since, they do not understand the dangers to which their children are being exposed to, the action for prevention can’t be expected from them. Let’s dive into a little detail unmasking the risks social media platforms might curse our children with.
-
Alluring Schemes Enticing Your Children: Most of the scammers over the internet target children as they had comparatively lower exposure to the world. A child lacks the ability to demarcate between the good and bad as they’ve a pure conscience themselves. Finding this as an opportunity, such people devise lucrative schemes to entice kids for their own personal financial gains.
-
Suspicious Links: Oftentimes, there is a risk of your child clicking on a link which might cause harm like data stealing, phone malwares, etc. It’s impossible for kids to determine the links which might be malicious in nature.
-
Emotional Manipulation: When it comes to children using social media, scammers use all sorts of manipulative tactics to get to them. It could lead to the development of mental health conditions in children like depression, anxiety, etc.
-
Online Theft: The risk of maintaining privacy over the internet is a major one, even when it comes to adults. Various things like clicking on a link, installing an app, etc. can lead one to lose their data. This can even include sensitive information like your address, bank account details, etc.
Your Only Savior in this World of Digital Dangers
As we all are pretty aware of the fact that avoiding social media isn’t doable, so let’s consider the solution for this situation. Many people nowadays are showing great proclivity towards social media monitoring to fight off the risks involved. For this, all you need is a mobile spy app to be installed on your kid’s device to ensure their safety over the web. Such apps come with a lot of features enabling one to curate a healthy digital life for their family.
To explain this concisely, let’s take a look at some of the salient features a phone spy app has to offer:
-
Social Media Tracking: A spy app can allow you to monitor your child’s online activity over social media apps to keep them safe from the dangers present online. You can have access to their chat history, phone calls made over such apps, etc. Basically, everything one could ask for to mitigate the risks online.
-
Phone Call Recordings: With an android spy app installed on the target device, you can listen to the call recordings; outgoing and incoming calls, both.
-
Location Tracking: Such apps allow its users to have a track of their child’s location. Knowing that you can be ascertained that your child is safe outside.
-
Block Certain Websites / URLs: With no lax security gateways in place, it becomes easier for kids to bypass and become exposed to inappropriate content quite easily. However, with the access to your child’s browsing history, such incidents can be avoided completely.
The Thin Line Between Ethical Implications & Respecting Boundaries of Your Child
When it comes to parental control apps, it’s crucial to maintain boundaries with your child. Social media platforms hold secrets of an individual which one does not intend to disclose with others. Even if it’s your own children. However, in order to protect them from the online world, you are required to have access to their social media chats completely. Holding this access comes with a responsibility of its own which should be understood by parents.
By no means should you bring a personal detail from your children’s life into the spotlight for discussion, unless and until it’s not necessary to do so. This is to avoid your children losing their trust in you on finding that you’re interfering in their private space or spying on them. Monitoring your children has its own set of rules. Even as a parent, you aren’t supposed to invade their privacy making them feel uncomfortable. However, without any second thoughts, you can take action if you feel your child isn’t safe online in a situation.
As parents, it is our duty to keep our children safe in any situation. Knowing the boundaries which you aren’t supposed to cross unless it’s a matter of your child’s safety, can flourish your relationship with them.