You know the old adage, “If you can’t say something nice…”
I want to believe that Teresa Giudice was horrified by her daughter’s tweet using a gay slur…which, although it has been erased, will live on as a screenshot in Gia’s social media history. This is an example of something that every kid active on social media must be made aware of. Anything you post online has the potential to become a national news item. I use the term ‘news’ loosely here.
Does it make you uncomfortable to see such hateful words on a screen? Have you ever thought about the difference between your child hearing hurtful or humiliating remarks vs. seeing them in print… along with everyone your child is friends with on Instagram or other favorite social platform?
What has been seen can never be unseen.
I am not saying that we must all protect our precious babes from ever hearing an unkind word. It’s a cruel world and hurt feelings are an inevitable part of life and growing up. I just don’t believe in subjecting yourself to this kind of thing unnecessarily.
I see young people posting ugly, unkind, and often downright scary things on social media daily. Kids are killing themselves in record numbers over words they can’t escape on a screen they can’t put down. Instagram and Twitter seem to be popular digital playgrounds for social kids at the moment – Little girls making threats like “I should come over there and slit your throat.” A young girl recently threatening (with accompanying pictures) to kill her dog if band members of One Direction didn’t follow her on Twitter was disturbing to say the least.
The reality is that most young people using social media today – I’m especially referring to 8-12 year olds – simply are not emotionally mature enough to understand the real consequences of the comments they make in the safe and comfortable surroundings of not-saying-it-to-someone’s-face.
Is anyone paying attention?
It is our responsibility as parents to know what our children (under the age of 18) are doing online, which is why I’ve written “@Sophie Takes a #Selfie”.
Our kids are walking around with the equivalent of the whole world in their pockets. Think about it!
Thanks for stopping by,
xo Jen
J. J. Cannon 