Social Media and Kids: Waiting is Loving

As parents, we go to great lengths to protect our children from danger. We double-check seat belts are fastened, teach how smoking and drugs can hurt our bodies, keep matches up high, etc. But what about protecting them from the dangers of social media?

There is loads of research out there that proves the serious nature of giving children access to technology too young. Glowing screens negatively impact their brains, pornography distorts their view of healthy sexuality, childhood depression, anxiety, and suicide are on the rise, just to name a few. 

Many parents are concerned about protecting their children, but there continues to be a gap between what they say and the digital parenting choices they make (ex. Giving a 6th grader an iPhone for Christmas). One example of this is based on the findings that 70% of school children ages 8-13 say they have at least one social media account.

The grace period for ignorant parenting is over. 

If we’re truly concerned about protecting our kids, we can’t ignore the research and hope the dangers of social media and too much technology won’t affect our kids. We need to come together as parents and encourage each other. We need to say no more. We need to stay informed about all the dangerous apps. We need to realize our kids can survive without a screen. And we need to remember that by having our kids wait for social media until they’re in high school, we are actually loving them better and parenting smarter. #WaitingIsLovingContent for this post was provided by our affiliate Protect Young Eyes’ article, “No Social Media Until High School #Waitingisloving.”