Children on the Internet. Should you be afraid of him and what opportunities can you get?

In the course of my research on the topics "Children on the Internet" and "Internet culture", I communicate a lot with various specialists and mothers. I have two small children, I am quite an advanced Internet user, my husband is a conservative and considers the Internet to be evil for children. I'm sure there are a lot of them.

I first conclude that parents intuitively or consciously understand that they themselves are in many ways role model for children - how they organize their own leisure time, how much time they spend with gadgets. Many parents admit that often the reason for children freezing in gadgets is that they do not have the time and energy to organize full-fledged leisure for children. Of course, it all starts with us and with the formation of our own healthy habits. But let's be honest - in real life, full of different tasks, it is not always possible to do everything perfectly and correctly.

Preventive actions are not about ideally organized leisure, but about simple actions that you can try to implement in your daily life as an experiment. For example, share with your child what you do in the gadget - work, read, watch. Call for a reciprocal dialogue, sincerely interested in even the most, in your opinion, uninteresting things, ask what exactly the child likes about this.

Watch. It is important. There are a number of signs that you need to urgently respond to: the child's lethargy after watching gadgets (some parents say that the child literally like a vegetable), strong anger and intolerance when parents ask to turn off the gadget, loss of interest in everything that does not concern gadgets.

What do experts recommend to do if such signs are identified?

Asking questions and listening to the child.

Some of the behavioral changes described above are a normal part of growing up, but if you see that a lot of this is due to gadgets, try to find out the reason - these can be such common problems as cyberbullying, harassment, difficulties in communication, dependence.

Counting time

Ask your child to determine how much time he spends on the Internet, talk about your concerns and possible consequences. Examples can be given.

Trust and support

Connect support in the form of loved ones whom the child trusts, teachers, older friends.

A child's high digital intelligence (DQ) plays a key role in today's digital world. The formation of digital intelligence is largely associated with the formation of important skills in human life. For example, critical thinking and resilience (endurance, resilience) is the ability of an individual handle stressful situations while maintaining internal balance without compromising success activities.

Here are some life hacks:

№1

Teach Children to Ask Questions: Encourage children to be critical of what they see on the Internet. They need to learn to identify content or messages that might mislead them or exploit them in some way.

№2

Talk to your children about fake news and false information that is presented as credible news coverage and how quickly it can spread on social media. Teach the children to check news sources and conduct their own independent topic searches so that they can see the diversity of opinions on a particular issue and form their own opinion.

№3

Remind the children to be careful when making new friends online, because people may not be who they say they are. We increasingly see “Finstas” (fake Instagram accounts) and other accounts that impersonate another person. Therefore, it is important to wonder if what they see online from their friends is real or not. If that doesn't sound like they know about their friends, then it could be a fake account.

№4

Warn your children of the dangers of meeting in person with someone they have spoken to online. Advise them to never make an appointment with an online friend, unless an adult they trust is with them and is in a public place during the day.

№5

Remain calm if your child is facing negative experiences or difficult situations online. Remember that the choices they make in these situations can help them learn. Often in the future, children will identify some of the positive consequences of negative experiences on the Internet.

№6

Remind your children to check who they accept as “friends” on the Internet.

№7

Make sure your kids know how to block users or pages on sites they don't want to interact with.

№8

If your child has a negative online situation, find out what he thinks about it, offer him support and tell him how to put things in perspective.

For example, you might say, “What this person has done is not good. He must be treating himself badly if he does this to you. How do you feel? Let's block it so that the messages of such a person just don't reach you. ”

№9

Build children's self-confidence and encourage positive thinking: seeing the good in every situation, thinking rationally, understand that difficult times are part of life, but they can always count on help and support from parents and loved ones to whom they trust.