Parents vital in teens’ responsible use of social media: experts

“Parents start too late in guiding their children on how to have a healthy digital media consumption habit. It’s not about intervention when things get critical, it’s about prevention and training from the very beginning on how to responsibly use digital media,” she explained. (Photo by Shubert Ciencia/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

MANILA — Social media specialists agree parents are vital in the responsible use of social media among teens as a way to prevent depression.

In the “Pros and Cons” website talk show program of the Philippine News Agency (PNA) aired on Friday, social media manager John Yang said parents should also be “taught how to use social media properly” so that they would also be exposed to the warning signs of depression, such as change of behavior and attitude.

“Parents should talk to their children and explain that they are concerned (with their use of social media),” he said.

Better Steps Psychology Inc. founder and psychologist Teddi Dizon, for her part, said values should be established at home, so that responsible internet use would prevail in the home.

“Values should be founded in the house, so that internet use could also be founded on accountability, respect, and security of feelings that no one will get hurt,” Dizon stressed.

She said prevention is key to responsible use of digital media.

“Parents start too late in guiding their children on how to have a healthy digital media consumption habit. It’s not about intervention when things get critical, it’s about prevention and training from the very beginning on how to responsibly use digital media,” she explained.

Yang added parents really have “to know their children and learn who their role models are, since kids who have no role models look for them in friends or the internet”, which could be a bad influence.

Dizon added parents should be mindful of what kind, what age, how much internet exposure they are giving their children.

Yang suggested that use for social media be limited to teens ages 15 and above, while Dizon suggested that six-year-olds be allowed to stream Youtube videos and surf the internet for educational learning materials.

He noted growing children will seek more materials.

Rommel Lopez, communication management and digital marketing professional, meanwhile, suggested social media be regulated or media information literacy be institutionalized to train teachers.

“Private and public schools should sit down and come up with a policy because it’s affecting mental health,” he said.

Lopez is also pushing for more studies in this field to create a solid foundation.