In addition to my Saturday Story, I commonly write about social media trends (as I am a freelance writer, editor and social media manager). There are many ‘holidays’ I didn’t know existed prior to referring to HubSpot’s Ultimate Social Media Holiday Calendar for 2018. Global Day of Parents was one of them, which is observed every June 1st.
Global Day of Parents
First proclaimed by the UN in 2012, Global Day of Parents may seem like a second Mother’s/Father’s Day, but the United Nations (UN) notes that:
Parents/guardians accept responsibility for their children, but such responsibilities are defined by many factors, including: geographic location, cultural influences, socio-economic status and an individual’s perspective and past experiences.
I am not a parent myself, but as a freelance writer with an online business, I am interested in the way that social media and digital applications informs the lives of our children.
We’ve all seen stories in the news referring to the way in which people (and businesses) craft their social media presence to make it seem like they’re living the “perfect life.” Anyone with any life experience at all knows that “perfection” simply doesn’t exist, but how do parents explain this to children? (Especially those too young to understand the concept?)
I admire parents who do the best they can to ensure that their children are not spending every waking moment online, and that they explain and supervise their children’s online activities, but I wonder how our online activities will inform society in another generation or two?
It’s Just the Beginning…
I started using Facebook in University, so my peers are the first generation to raise children in a world that allows for instant connection to almost anyone- including family, friends and strangers- in addition to access to almost any good or service you can imagine.
In a society that values speed of information and digital connectivity, I admire the plight of parents as they navigate their responsibilities to raise thoughtful, compassionate, digitally literate children, who may not have the cognitive ability to understand the ramifications of their actions and the concept of forever– as well as the lack of tone or nuance in text- when they post/interact on social media platforms (please see my post re: “Taking a Stand Against Cyberbullying on Pink Shirt Day”).
It’s not surprising that there are many online resources that discuss tips for monitoring kids’ social media activities, and how to cultivate healthy social media habits for kids, but I was surprised to learn that there are social networking sites for young children (though, to be fair, they seem safe and require adult supervision/permission; the sites directed towards young children are related to games and toys that would be of interest to them). I came across an article that noted 5 reasons you don’t need to worry about kids and social media. I would argue that these five reasons (including: “it lets them do good” and “it can offer a sense of belonging”) are valid enough to allow your kids to engage in social media networking sites (as appropriate for the individual child/age), as long as their relationships online do not become more important than day-to-day activities & experiences, and cultivating relationships in real life.
I hope that parents are diligent in supervising and monitoring time spent online, as a
Therefore, it’s important for parents and guardians to understand how social media works, which platforms their children use (and how to monitor them), how children value their social media engagement/presence (is the digital world more important to them than the real world?), and how much time their children spend online.
The Financial Times notes that
To all parents/guardians of children, I admire the tenacity, persistence, patience and adaptability it must take to raise the next generation, especially in our digital age.
Give your life the green light. It’s A Go!
Amber Green