During Corona Parents Stay Engaged with Your Kids On Social Media
William Jackson, M.Ed.
My Quest to Teach #MyQuestToTeach
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The closing of schools, social distancing and even
cities closing stores and social gathering places
are ravaging the social engagement of adults.
Just think of the impact on youth, teens and
young adults that thrive on social contact and
building relationships. Parent have already
complained about their kids on social media
too much before the Corona Virus, now it will
explode into social isolation and the explosion
of digital engagement multiplied by the number
of days in isolation and the only outlets will be
digital.
There are jokes now about how many babies will
be born in nine months, the additional concern
will be how many youth, teens and young adults
will be social media and digitally tethered to their
phones. Tech is a youths connection for social and
even mental health stability.
There will be new issues with the engagement of
kids being social after the Corona Virus isolation.
What parents may not realize are the affects now
what their kids may be going through mentally
and the content they are creating and sharing.
The access to social media should be a tool for
parents to have additional access to their children.
Digital tools and platforms enable parents to
connect to their children when they are away from
home and out of sight. Now that they are at home
and in sight how can digital tools bring about positive
engagement and interaction?
Parents should establish a common understanding
with their kids that they are both accountable for
communicating with each other and encourage the
sharing of content that builds stronger relationships
not digital distractions and further separation.
Taking virtual field trips together to zoos, museums,
libraries and even VR experiences that everyone can
enjoy and be engaged with. Applying social digital
travels around the world and connecting with digital
Art museums, Cultural museums, STEAM events that
are engaged and active.
There are too many stories where kids try to connect
with their parents using digital tools and kids cannot
“find” their parents. When parents try to connect with
their children there develops the same situation. Parents
are ultimately the social media role models and should
set the model for online behaviors and adventures that
can be fun and a digital journey for the family.
Children as young as 3 years old are developing skills
not heard of 5 years ago with technology. Many toddlers
have the fine motor skills of adults when they can Text,
Tweet, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp even before
they have formalized verbal communication.
The comprehension levels of children are more advanced
because of the digital engagements with devices, but the
knowledge to apply these skills is still lost in how to
effectively grow beyond the inability to empower and
educate. There needs to be a balance of engagement,
exploration, interaction and entertainment. Parents
need to research and explore before they feel frustrated,
stressed and even defeated because they cannot
“connect” with their kids. Engagement is vitally important
and doing things together.
Children, their thinking is years in advanced
even though emotionally they may not be able to process
the images, language and situations they witness in
online environments. When unsupervised kids get the
wrong messages about relationships.
Parents need to understand social media because it
is a representation of our society, both good and bad.
Parents cannot leave their children online without
supervision and monitoring. The social dynamics of online
lives are setting the foundation for youth, teens and
young adults in their behaviors with each other, their
families and this is embedded in their social
engagements with school and society.
The violent reactions by youth and young adults even
from the mention of taking phones away is disturbing.
Phones that they did not even purchase nor do they
make monthly payment. Parents sacrifice each
month in some cases to buy their kids the best phones
with the fastest connection, HD cameras and stereo
sound capability, but these same parents are scared
of their children and the children know this.
Parents must not only make high expectation with
digital behaviors and when they are ready take the
devices to “check” behaviors and be proactive to
potential situations.
The social dynamics of human interaction shows
that they are social creatures. They can be involved in
multiple levels of exchanging information using
language either verbal or body language. Digital
devices can expand this engagement either in good
ways or bad. Corona is spread by social engagement
and now social distancing is the safe way to be.
People communicate with voice and volume, physical
touching, facial expressions, body gestures, voice
inflections and even the movement in standing.
The social side of social engagement is based on
social interaction as humans.
The media aspects are based on dynamic media
platforms, digital sites that provide digital and even
clinical sites that have no physical nor emotional
connections. Kids are losing their emotional
foundations of reasoning, patience and in some
cases humanity. Parents have to mix social in
home and digital in virtual exchanges.
Children are growing more in love with their
digital devices and access to social sites than
they are to their humanity. More and more
children are manipulating their parents so they
(children) can get their digital “fix” either from
Twitter, Instagram, or Gaming.
Parents are finding that their little boys and girls
are being lost to a Matrix of useless information
that only encourages disconnection from family
and friends in the real situations of social
engagement.
Before parents start to see changes in the
emotional status of their children, there should
be a plan to keep those human connections active
and engaged. This time of Corona is not just the
ravages of a virus, but the change in mentality
and means of digital social engagement. There
should be play time, social time, family time,
daddy time, mommy time with the kids.
Parents are digital role models, re-engage with
their children to learn about them before they
are lost and have no desire to connect,
communicate or socialize with parents.
Parents get involved with your children before
the challenges are beyond Corona, but building
and keeping a relationship with your children.
One aspect is the disconnect from digital devices
to share real human time with family and friends
and even share digital engagements to build
stronger relationships.