Forget about friending or following your teen on social media. Here is a better alternative.
All concerned parents who want to be sure their child is safe would like to send a friend request to their teen on Facebook and follow them on other social media platforms. But if it has been a few days since your teenage son or daughter has responded to your request on Facebook, then you might be worried.
The problem is that teens and young adults don’t really want their parents to know what they are up to. It is not just their parents who they don’t want to see on social media, they don’t want to deal with the requests of relatives either. And even if your teen does accept your request, maybe a few weeks or months down the road, they might remove you.
I am pretty sure teens have their own reasons for doing this and if you were a teenager right now, you would probably want to do the same. Just as teens like to avoid their parents, parents like to know what’s going on in their teen’s life. While they don’t certainly like to poke their kids or ask annoying questions about where have you been and who you hang out with but the rising concerns leave them with no choice.
The Possible Dangers of Social Media that Haunt Parents
Social media certainly plays a vital role in broadening the technical and learning skills, but we cannot overlook the risks. Adolescents are highly vulnerable to evils of sexting, cyberbullying and social media depression. According to survey, 13% youngsters have admitted that they received threatening messages. Even if a single message from a private group chat is circulated without the sender’s permission, this act is perceived as cyberbullying. Bigotry, trolling, racism, misogyny all these are common diseases spread on social networks.
Not all teens are able to handle such disgrace. The unfortunate reality is that some teens hold everything in and parents only find out when things go out of hands. Consider the story of the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. Although it is a TV show, it perfectly explains how teenagers are bullied these days.
Social media networking makes you lose your privacy too. It is not just teens, anyone who is involved in an extensive use of social media ends up sharing too much information and gets disconnected from reality. Every comment you make, every post you share or the tweets and retweets you make create a digital footprint.
Adolescence is the age in which people spread their wings and they try to take their first flight into the world. It is mandatory for parents to be a part of this process.
What’s The Alternative Then?
When social media can be so dangerous, as a parent what’s your alternative to friending or following your teen? My answer would be xnspy. It is a spying app for WhatsApp, Facebook, Skype, Instagram, Tinder and the regular phone call and text messages, of course. You will know who they talking to, what photos they are sharing and you can even check their browsing history. Apart from all this, you can also remotely track their location. xnspy plays not just the role of a spying app for WhatsApp, but of a Tinder spy app too. Every conversation your teen is having, the photos they are sharing, the places they are going to, all will be in front of your eyes.
Tips for Better Communication and Trust Building
Along with using an app, there are other ways parents should adopt to navigate social media between them and their kids. You will have to start working on this reinforcement before the teenage kicks.
- Ask your kid to show what they do on Facebook. During their younger age, kids crave attention so they might be proud to show you what they do on Facebook. Guide them to post only the stuff they would be willing to shout out in the middle of the street.
- Remember, each family has a different dynamic. Some kids need more supervision and some don’t. It is possible that you may not even need any Tinder spy app to find what your teen is up to. If your child has accepted your friend request on Facebook, just carefully parent your kid through it. Don’t comment on each and every post. Only comment when you want to encourage them for something. If you think your child has posted some images that shouldn’t be on social media, then tell them to rethink about it offline. Talk to them on the dinner table and tell that such photos are not appropriate.
- Let the communication with your children be open. Talk about the issues of technology to gain their trust. In this way, if something bad happens online, they will come to you first. Along with accessing their social media communications, don’t forget about instant messaging apps like WhatsApp. That’s when you are going to need xnspy spying app for WhatsApp to get more involved in your teen’s communication with friends.
- Find out how your teen is representing themselves online. Have a co-viewing session with your child. Ask them to show their comments, friends list, and photos they have shared.
- If you don’t yet have a social media account, get help from your teen to create one. Remember, trust goes both ways. If your child lets you see their social media accounts, then you can show them yours too. In this learning process, tell them what they can post and what they can’t.
For those parents who find it crucial to use an app, it is recommended to let your kid know they are being monitored.