Round Table Discussion on Social Media

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a round table discussion on social media hosted by the Junior League of Birmingham. We heard from five different people from the Birmingham area on this topic and gained some beneficial insight into social media and our children.

• 22% of adolescents and pre-adolescents log in to social media more than 25 times per day
• 50% of teenagers report sending a photo they regret via text or social media
• Social Media Disorders are diagnosed more and more each year due to the amount of time our children and society as a whole spend on social media.
• Facebook Depression/Instagram Depression are real. Our children are determining their self-worth through their interactions on social media.

Those are just a few tidbits of information I learned. Our intermediate-aged children are spending an increasing amount of time on electronic devices. We, as parents, must protect them from the dangers of the internet and social media just as much as we protect them from the dangers in the world around them. We will be putting together a series of parent seminars for next school year. One seminar will center around keeping your child safe online. In the meantime, you can check out these resources below to find out more on this topic.

• NetSmartz Workshop
• Common Sense Media
• Be Web Smart