Social Media

Despite assurances from experts that it is normal and ok that your kids are spending more time on digital devices in these unprecedented times, there is still a risk of digital addiction. If you want to review some strategies for weaning them away, check out this recent article in the New York Times entitled Is Your Child a Digital Addict? Here’s What You Can Do. The author discusses ways to help them step away from the screen without a battle.

The Mozilla Foundation recently released a report detailing how the top 15 video-conferencing apps -- including those used by schools, such as Zoom, Google Hangouts and Microsoft Teams -- measure up when it comes to privacy and security. Of those studied, 12 met the company's minimum security standards.

How can you avoid screen time burnout when it seems like your whole life revolves around devices? Read or listen to an interview on the National Public Radio with Catherine Price,  a journalist and author of How To Break Up With Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan To Take Back Your Life about how to fight screen burnout. Since the pandemic, she's been offering new resources for finding a healthier balance with screens. In particular, she stresses figuring out how to take breaks from your digital devices.

In its latest effort to improve content transparency leading up to the US election, Facebook is adding new location markers on individual business profile posts, on both Facebook and Instagram, which will highlight where the managers of that page or account are primarily located, helping to provide additional context. That’s another tool for you and your kids to use in combatting cyberbullying and misinformation. This new transparency feature will be particularly important with the election in the fall of 2020.

The recent and rampant flurry of harmful misinformation about coronavirus has been labeled an “infodemic” by the World Health Organization (WHO), and there are many attempts to curb the spread. Facebook recently announced that it would begin to let users know if there were posts that they have liked, commented on, or shared that included misinformation about the coronavirus. Facebook will then point the notified user in the direction of a reliable source. Advocates who want Facebook to take the same actions for political posts say this may be a breakthrough in the battle against false information. It is important in researching this topic to understand the terms when talking about “fake news”. In the language of online security, “disinformation” means the coordinated, purposeful spread of false information, while “misinformation” refers to accidental inaccuracies. This is another conversation to have with your kids about making sure they (and we!) don’t believe everything read on the Internet.

US teens have rated Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok as their favorites apps in general along with giving them the highest marks for engagement, according to a survey of 5,200 individuals in 41 states conducted by Piper Sandler. The firm's Taking Stock With Teens survey also reports that teens spent an average of 12 hours per week on social media and, while Facebook had been declining somewhat the past couple of years, it's witnessing slight rebound.

Given all the time kids have been spending online during the COVID-19 crisis, there is some good news. Despite the amount of time spent on phones and computers, young people's social skills are not declining, according to the American Journal of Sociology. The study found similarities in how children who started school in 1998 and 2010 formed and maintained friendships, regulated their tempers and managed self-control.

The basics of talking to your kids about staying safe on all the latest and greatest social media apps is not all that different then the general digital safety cautionary conversation you have probably had with them about the Internet in general. If you need a refresher, here is link to the basics of what should be part of that conversation. The most important thing to remember? Remind them that anything that is posted is permanent, even if you have deleted it or shared it on an app like Snapchat, where the message is supposed to disappear. There is always a chance someone could take a screen shot or can hack into your archive. Once it is up, you never know where it may pop up again.

For currently popular apps such as TikTok, Instagram and more, parents will need to spend a little time getting familiar with them in order to have any credibility in talking about them. There are lots of guides available for parents, complete with all the cautions you need to emphasize. Common Sense Media, for example, has a parent’s section complete with quick tip guides on Instagram and TikTok. They often do follow up articles on other problems that crop up with each app over time, so don’t just click on the first guide you see  - look for one that has been done more recently to make sure you have the latest information on how kids are using the app and what issues have surfaced. USA Today  also specializes in creating these kinds of parent guides. Take advantage of what others have discovered and keep your ears open for other issues and new apps that parents in your children’s social orbit may be talking about.

If you are parent in the Digital Age, you’ve probably heard a lot about guidelines on screen time. Many parents look to those screen time guidelines, such as the ones from the American Academy of Pediatricians, for the daily maximum time acceptable for your children to be in front of a screen. But let’s face it, and even research backs this up, there are different kinds of screen time and they are not all equal. Lots of factors come into play when it comes to media – is it educational, are parents and kids watching or playing something together and talking about it, or is it Facetime session with the grandparents? Maybe kids are watching drawing tutorial on YouTube or someone reading a book out loud, which is very different than hours of cartoons. Context matters.

Central to those guidelines, also, has always been the premise that parents know their child best and should use their discretion. You undoubtedly already have some ideas about when to stretch screen time allowance when your kids are watching something of high interest to them. That is part of recognizing that all media experiences are not equal, and that quality certainly trumps quantity.

Kids are also incredibly social beings, and during this period of social separation, that void is also being filled by technology connections. Kids may be watching more Netflix and playing more video games, but they are also video chatting more, playing games with friends online, and even having virtual play dates. While these online experiences will never replace person-to-person connections, using tech to keep kids in touch with peers and family is especially important in these times of social distancing.

So where does that leave you?

• Don’t beat yourself up if your kids have upped their screen time. We are in unprecedented times. At this point, screen time is their only way to connect with the outside world.
• Try to find good content. Find reviews of all kinds of media for kids on sites like Common Sense Media and even Rotten Tomatoes.
• Keep it creative. Make sure they are not just passively using technology all day. Let them use your phone to take pictures and videos and figure out all the special features like slow motion, 360 views and whatever else is available to them. Ask them to make a video diary of their day or that of the family pet. Record dance videos, magic tricks, or short skits and send them off to grandparents to cheer them up. Let them play with some of the free creative apps that are available on your phone or computer like Comic Life for making comic books or drawing apps for all ages.
• Keep connected. Use the technology to connect to other people and mix it up. Everything does not have to be a straight up conversation or video chat. Have a joke day where everyone has to offer a favorite joke, a picture they have drawn, or a small video they have made.
• Keep talking. One of the biggest issues experts have with technology for children is that watching passively does help with building language skills the way interpersonal communication does. So when kids are watching, try to join them when you can and then talk about what they are seeing, reading or playing. Ask about what issues or ideas came up in a story, inquire what characters they liked or didn’t like and why, and listen when they tell you about some great move they made in a game to get to the next level.
• Get out and keep it balanced. If you are somewhere they can get outside, try to get out every day even it is just for a walk. Try to do things that don’t involve screens, even if it is just organizing their closets or reading a book.

Online classes at several schools, on all grade levels, have been invaded by “Zoom-bombing,” an ugly new activity in which hackers disrupt virtual sessions in the Zoom app to display pornography, racism and other disturbing images. Some districts have even suspended use of the app because of these threats. However, there are ways to prevent this kind of activity, and you can pass those along to a teacher. It is important for parents to remember that many teachers were thrust into this world of online teaching without a lot of notice or preparation, and Zoom is a brand new resource to them. You can help teachers figure out all the precautions to take, such as requiring passwords for each session, guarding meeting URLs and restricting screen sharing. Parents should also remember that with any online activity there is potential for something to go wrong, and you should be prepared to talk to your children if they see something that upsets them.