Parents of teens may feel in the dark about what their children are experiencing in their online lives. Social media use is so common and frequent that it impacts the vast majority of teens today. Teen social media use should be carefully monitored by parents to make sure that teens are being safe and smart with what they post.
With over 90% of teens using social media, issues surrounding social media are common. Parents can help their teens practice social media safety by having at-home lessons about social media safety. In addition, teens can learn how to be good digital citizens from their parents.
Do you want to learn about what your child could be exposed to on social media? If so, keep on reading!
What Do Teens Deal with Because of Social Media?
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is a type of bullying that happens online through social media or messaging apps. Social media can allow people to target others with hateful posts, comments, and messages. Nearly 2 in 3 teens have experienced some form of hateful, threatening, or bullying messages online.
Because social media can offer bullies anonymity, many teens may say and hear hurtful things without understanding their full impact. Over 20% of teens have admitted to cyberbullying others. Teens may cyberbully others to gain popularity or because they may not understand that what they are doing is wrong.
Oftentimes, teens might not feel like they can speak up against cyberbullying. Cyberbullies often use anonymous accounts to avoid consequences, so the victim may not be able to identify their bully. Teens could also be using hidden social media accounts such as finstas to keep their parents from seeing their online activity. A teen using a hidden social media account without their parent’s permission could be afraid of getting in trouble with their parent.
Parents can help their children feel safe to talk about cyberbullying by offering an open line of communication.
Effects on Mental Health and Self-Esteem
In addition to the negative effects that cyberbullying can have, social media use can impact the mental health and self-esteem of users in less obvious ways.
Many parents feel like their teens are constantly glued to their phones. Social media addiction is a serious issue that many young individuals could be facing. Overuse of social media can impact the length and quality of a teen’s sleep, leading to decreased energy and mood.
When using social media, teens might not be able to understand how their feelings are influenced by what they see. Social media is used by individuals to connect with one another, and this does not always have to be a bad thing. Unfortunately, social media can influence teens by making them feel FOMO or the fear of missing out.
Teens may feel pressured to constantly be on social media to avoid missing what others are posting. They also could feel pressured to post high-quality content in order to gain popularity. When teens are jealous or envious about what their friends, peers, and celebrities are posting about, they may feel excluded or insecure.
Users will usually edit their photos and videos before posting them to social media. As a result the majority of people selectively post only the best photos of themselves. While teens might be doing this themselves, they might forget that influencers and celebrities are also doing the same.
If a teen is comparing themselves to others on social media, they could end up suffering from low self-esteem. There is also research that indicates that social media may directly be affecting teens’ self-image and leading to issues such as body dysmorphia and eating disorders.
Privacy Issues
Teens could be sharing posts that indicate their hometown, school, or real-time location. Other people could misuse this information, leading to breaches of privacy, or in extreme cases, threats to a teen’s physical safety.
Teens also could experience stress and anxiety if a post that they made gets screenshotted by someone else and distributed. While having private accounts and only accepting follow and friend requests from people they trust is a good way to reduce the risk of this happening, teens must understand that nothing they post on social media is truly private or temporary.
It is important that teens are safe about who they share their personal information with. Parents and children need to be on the same page with the level of information that they share via social media. When setting up social media accounts, parents and teens should set privacy settings together. Teens should not disable any privacy settings without their parents’ permission.
What Should Parents Do to Help Their Teens Navigate Social Media Use?
One of the best ways for parents to promote safe and healthy teen social media use is by staying educated and informed on the issues that their children may be facing online. By staying up to date on harmful trends and understanding red flags and warning signs of social media misuse, parents can help protect their children. To learn more about teen social media safety, check out our helpful articles here!
