Children nowadays have access to the Internet and social media. While we parents try to minimise exposure, I feel there's little we can do on that. But of we can prepare our kids to be able to distinguish right from wrong, we stand better chance.
How can we do this?
How can i protect my children from online bad money influences?
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Educate Yourself
Understand how algorithms feed personalised content to your children and know what they are looking at online. For many teenagers, standing out and being different is a high-risk strategy. It is safer to follow the crowd and accept peer influences. Consequently, our children can be easy targets for those who seek to promote themselves, their ideas, or their products via social media.
Listen and Understand
Allow your child to speak openly about their influences and the reasons they feel the way they do; listen and ask questions. It’s really tempting to dismiss young people’s opinions and their attraction to online content. We are also primed to jump in with advice all too quickly. Neither of these approaches are helpful. We must take the time to understand what is appealing to our children without judgment
Generalise the Problem
Don’t focus on the specific issue, such as Andrew Tate (there are and will be others), but discuss the motives behind influencers’ words and deeds. The specific example may well be emotive, but all cases have features in common, namely a desire to grab your attention and influence your behaviour to generate an advantage for the influencer – status, followers, and (ultimately) money.
Promote Critical Thinking
A healthy dose of scepticism is the best protection against misinformation ora kinds. Rather than assert vour views, coach vour children to see the issue from a more critical perspective. What are the vested interests of these people that mav cause us to question their claims? What expertise do they have? Is there any corroboration for the claims being made? No one likes to be fooled and your children will spot the falsehoods as quickly as anyone else.
Reflect on Values
Ask if these views are consistent with your family or community values and, if not, why should we tolerate them in our virtual lives? It is easy to shrug and accept behaviour and attitudes we know to be bad when they are presented online. We are constantly bombarded with information and choosing to ignore it is a reasonable defence mechanism. However, sometimes we should confront the claims, look past the slick presentation and reject the misinformation.
Many young people struggle to find meaning in their lives (especially given the mental health challenges exposed by the pandemic) and we all lack tolerance for the normal levels of suffering associated with living. These facts contribute to a worrying existential vacuum for young people
Understand how algorithms feed personalised content to your children and know what they are looking at online. For many teenagers, standing out and being different is a high-risk strategy. It is safer to follow the crowd and accept peer influences. Consequently, our children can be easy targets for those who seek to promote themselves, their ideas, or their products via social media.
Listen and Understand
Allow your child to speak openly about their influences and the reasons they feel the way they do; listen and ask questions. It’s really tempting to dismiss young people’s opinions and their attraction to online content. We are also primed to jump in with advice all too quickly. Neither of these approaches are helpful. We must take the time to understand what is appealing to our children without judgment
Generalise the Problem
Don’t focus on the specific issue, such as Andrew Tate (there are and will be others), but discuss the motives behind influencers’ words and deeds. The specific example may well be emotive, but all cases have features in common, namely a desire to grab your attention and influence your behaviour to generate an advantage for the influencer – status, followers, and (ultimately) money.
Promote Critical Thinking
A healthy dose of scepticism is the best protection against misinformation ora kinds. Rather than assert vour views, coach vour children to see the issue from a more critical perspective. What are the vested interests of these people that mav cause us to question their claims? What expertise do they have? Is there any corroboration for the claims being made? No one likes to be fooled and your children will spot the falsehoods as quickly as anyone else.
Reflect on Values
Ask if these views are consistent with your family or community values and, if not, why should we tolerate them in our virtual lives? It is easy to shrug and accept behaviour and attitudes we know to be bad when they are presented online. We are constantly bombarded with information and choosing to ignore it is a reasonable defence mechanism. However, sometimes we should confront the claims, look past the slick presentation and reject the misinformation.
Many young people struggle to find meaning in their lives (especially given the mental health challenges exposed by the pandemic) and we all lack tolerance for the normal levels of suffering associated with living. These facts contribute to a worrying existential vacuum for young people
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