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Two fourteen-year-old girls Lara Brown (Lara Brown) and Grace de Souza (Grace de Souza) compiled a guide for adults, active users of social networks, which could be called this: “How not to embarrass your child in front of his peers on the Web and not look stupid yourself “.
Talk about the obvious
When a child has been hanging out on social networks for more than a year, it is useless to tell him that he should not communicate with someone he does not know, and that he should not post something that he will later regret. Such instructions will not lead to anything, because you are saying what the child already knows. Perhaps you should tell him about much more important issues that relate to “advanced” users: pornography, trolls, or what to do when faced with aggression.
Pass the tests
- How do you get through your child’s adolescence?
hypocrisy
“No phones at the table,” parents said when they themselves were not yet comfortable with smartphones. Now the children are forced to remain silent at dinner while the adults check their mail or read the news. Now think about how your words sound in this case: “Imagine how much better your English would be if you spent as much time on it as you spend on your Instagram.” Or this situation: a teenager informs his parents about some entertaining fact (“Did you know that an ostrich has more eyes than a brain!”), And a label is immediately hung on him – a bike from the Internet. “Well, where did you read that? In his “Vkontakte?” they sneer, googling “ostrich eyes”.
Boast
In the “personal information” in the profile of parents, you can often find such information: “Mother of two wonderful girls; both gifted musicians, athletes and excellent students. And the most frequent post: “Having a wonderful time with the family playing Scrabble. At the same time, adults usually forget to mention that daughter No. 1 has not picked up a flute for about a year, daughter No. 2 has flunked all the exams, “Erudite” has turned into a curse about the existence of this or that word, and the daughters have locked themselves in their rooms and quietly hate everyone . Parents often use social media to fantasize their ideal family life. By the way, it’s worth saying separately to those who post photos of their children’s excellent grades with the caption “Proud”: don’t do this.
Read more:
- He doesn’t want to be friends with his parents on social media
Be careful with Facebook
- Don’t use your child’s wall as a way to communicate. “You looked upset today, I hope you feel better now. Kiss. Your mommy.” All his friends will see this, and the teenager will be extremely unpleasant. If you have something to say, write a private message.
- Posts with family photos are another no. Yes, you had a great time over the weekend, the photos turned out to be hilarious, but you don’t need to post them on the Web. When a teenager tries to explain why he feels a burning sense of shame because of these photos, he is often answered: “But you post selfies all the time!”. What parents don’t realize is that every photo posted by their child is carefully selected.
- Don’t like the posts of your child’s friends! A like on Facebook does not mean that you liked the particular thing you liked. This means that you are interested in this person. In this case, teenagers may think that you are following them. And they will approach your child at school and say: “Your mom liked my photo on FB.” And this is the worst thing a teenager can hear from their peers.
Read more:
- Likes lead to depression?
Be careful with Twitter
A hashtag allows you to categorize a post or make it easier to find that particular post. Therefore, when sometime he writes “#weekend! #broke out to the #park with #kebabs”, then this is just ridiculous. It’s funny until your own parents write the same thing.
Be careful with Instagram
Using Instagram is quite difficult. There is a very fine line between interesting and pretentious posts. Teenagers spend some time thinking about what kind of signature to make. But not the parents. It’s easy to see a photograph of the sky with an entire poem underneath. Or a photo of a typical tourist holding the Taj Mahal on the palm of his hand, with the caption “Super!”.
Believe in pseudoscience
Many parents often tell their children all sorts of absurd things like: “Don’t carry the phone near your heart – there will be a heart attack.” “Don’t talk for a long time on a mobile phone – it destroys the brain.” Where do they get this information from?
Read more:
- What social networks can give scientists
To spy
Attempts by adults to look over the shoulder of a child into his phone violate the boundaries of personal space. If you are wondering what he does, just ask him about it. When you peep, he involuntarily gets the feeling that you do not trust him.
Come up with questions
The endless questions about what the child did during the day, which parents like to ask, imply that they consider the teenager to be addicted to social networks. But what can he say to you? “I’m not dependent, I’m afraid”? After all, if he does not keep in touch with his friends, then he will definitely miss something important. Since this is quite difficult for parents to understand, just try to leave him alone one day.
See more at The Guardian.