Using social media safely
Social media helps children communicate, share, and learn. It offers opportunities to practise key 21st-century skills they will use in the future. Here's how to help young people use social media for good.
What are the benefits of social media?
Social media, when used in a responsible and age-appropriate way, can help children learn, think critically and build the skills they need for the future. The Foundation for Young Australians' New Work Order Series predicts that future jobs will focus less on routine tasks and more on working with people and solving problems. Research conducted by Reach Out found that social media provides a platform for young people to stay connected and develop better social skills.
Young people can use social media to develop skills in:
- navigating and sharing digital content
- responsible online interaction
- building an online identity
- maintaining a digital reputation.
Building digital skills
Technology has become a core part of our world. Ongoing developments in mixed reality, automation and artificial intelligence will have a major impact on what jobs look like in the future. For this reason, digital skills are becoming essential.
Learning
Using social media and the internet help your child with their learning. The internet has given us access to huge amounts of quality information, and social media is a great tool for finding and sharing that information. Social media can show young people about areas of interest and topics they're learning at school. It can also connect them with experts and communities of learners.
Learning on social media can occur when:
- reading articles
- asking questions
- replying to posts
- watching video tutorials
- talking with friends
- discussing topics with other people.
Being engaged with others
Social media allows young people to get to know and learn about new and diverse groups of people.
The Pew Research Center found teenagers used social media to meet people from different backgrounds, get diverse views and demonstrate their support for causes.
A majority of teenagers who spent time in online groups said those groups helped them meet new people, feel more accepted, work through their feelings on important issues and get through tough times in their life.
In general, social media groups can provide:
- a sense of belonging and community
- access to support from like-minded individuals
- an appreciation of different perspectives
- reduced isolation
- a monitored discussion environment.
Growing critical thinking skills
As technology has made it easier for us to share a huge range of news and information, it has also become necessary to consider online content's reliability.
It can be difficult to tell whether something is real or fake, especially when it looks like it comes from a trusted friend or an official source. You can help your child develop their critical thinking skills by giving them strategies to judge the reliability of different sources of information.
Critical thinking skills can be built by:
- discussing how the choice of words, videos and images can change how you think about information
- identifying trusted sources of information and discussing what makes something trustworthy
- teaching children to question the reliability and the source of information, both online and in other media.
Developing identity
While older people might think of their online and offline lives as being different, children and teenagers can find this separation confusing.
Young people have grown up in a world where the distinction between online and offline is increasingly blurred, and their online presence is an important part of their identity.
For young people, an online identity is:
- an extension of themselves
- a way to explore different parts of themselves
- a way to share or explore interests that are not available offline.
An online identity is not:
- a ‘fake’ identity
- a way to lie to peers and friends
- a means of exploring bad behaviours.
Safety tips for using social media
- Check your privacy settings.
- Be mindful of how much you share.
- Be wary of surveys and competitions.
- Disable location services and avoid 'checking in'.
Social media and body image
How can teenagers' experiences on social media influence their body image?
Research conducted in Australia by the Butterfly Foundation informs about the role of social media on the development of body image.