Practical ways to keep your kids off social media

Giving social media access to your kids early is — without a doubt — a bad idea. Social media is addictive, hurts your child’s mental health, exposes them to inappropriate content and cyberbully-ing, disrupts sleep, and makes them vulnerable to privacy risks and online predators.

- By MARK ISAIAH DAVID

The list goes on — so many dangers and drawbacks documented in various reputable studies saying the same thing: don’t give in. Keep your children off the juice. Do your kids a favor and hold off on exposing them to social media.

But it would be unreasonable to think they could go their whole lives without social media. So when is it ok to give in? What is the right age for social media?

While most platforms require users to be at least 13 years old, health experts argue that this is too young. Even though there is no hard line (yet) delineating acceptable and unacceptable ages for social media usage, it is generally considered that the longer you delay your kids’ dive into social media, the better it is for them. The U.S. Surgeon General recommends waiting until kids are at least 16 before allowing them on social media.

And because everyone’s into it (especially in the Filipino context), warding away social media off your kids will probably be hard. Parents would need to provide alternatives for socializing and entertainment. In implementing your no-social-media rule, you can try these: