Skip to main content

Social Media: Things parents must know.

New research is throwing a lot of light on the positive things that can happen when children share, connect, and learn through the internet. As a parent to a teenager, you can help cultivate the positive side by accepting the importance of social media for children and helping them in finding ways for it to create more value to their lives. Here are a few benefits of your children being social media-savvy:

It strengthens friendships. Most teens, especially the ones being homeschooled, feel that social media has helped their friendships, and makes them feel connected and social.
Sense of belonging. Social media makes teens feel less lonely and isolated. In fact, children tend to become more socially skilled, partly because of the increased technology use.  

It offers genuine support. Whether the child is interested in an uncommon subject that is not considered "cool" by teen standards – online support can validate a marginalized child. Apart from this, teens who are prone to suicide can get immediate access to support online. In fact, one instance occurred on Reddit when the whole online community made use of voice-conferencing software to change a teen’s mind on committing suicide.

It helps in expressing themselves. Both performers and producers can satisfy the desire for creative self-expression via social media. Digital technology helps young children to share their creativity and work with a bigger audience and even partner with far-flung artists. If they are persistent, social media can provide the platform and essential feedback for them to refine their craft.

It gives them a voice. Facebook, Twitter, and other big social networks expose children to serious issues and people from across the globe. Students realize they have a voice they did not have before and participate in crowd funding for those in need.

Gives a lot of exposure: Most teens, especially the ones undergoing homeschooling in Canada, live an extremely sheltered life. However, with exposure to different virtual media outlets, they develop awareness about different communities of the world. This political and cultural awareness is important if we wish to groom our children to become socially responsible. With e-magazines, social networking sites exposing world happenings, teenagers come to realize that there is a lot more going on around the world than what’s happening in their neighborhood.

Social media has a lot of influence on teens and can greatly impact every aspects of their life. However, all is not negative with the media. If used under supervision, social media can transform their lives for good.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to create a positive learning enviroment in your house?

A nurturing and positive learning environment is very important irrespective of where the education of the child takes place. Here are a few practical tips that can help homeschoolers offer an atmosphere that is conducive to learning. Set a specific area for classes While some children like to study in silence other like it when others are within their close vicinity. While some families have big houses that offer space for dedicated learning, others integrate their study area in the common living room of their house. No matter the size of the space, make sure the rooms are well lit, clean, orderly and distraction free. Have a positive attitude within the house Attitudes and moods can be infectious, so it is important that you keep any negativity aside – whether it is tension, anger or impatience – before entering the home classroom. Little children are expectedly perceptive and can pick up on attitudes easily. Establish daily goals that are practical and reali...

Homeschooling and Grandparents

If you are a grandparent who wants to be involved in your grandchild’s homeschooling life, there are a variety of ways in which you can do that. Here is a list of ideas that will help you play an important role in your grandchild’s educational experience. Full-time Teachers In some families, having a grandparent as the primary “teacher” in the homeschool is an excellent solution. This is particularly true if both parents are working full-time and the grandparents are willing to get involved. Grandparents who decide to take these roles have to be patient, energetic, and prepared to deal with the tantrums of their grandchildren. This may also involve the risk of causing rough confrontations with the parents.  The Guest Lecturer In this role, the grandparent may be skilled in math, interested in science, or passionate about literature or writing. This grandparent can be in charge of the academic subject that they feel they have expertise on. This will also give the ...

Chemistry Experiments for Your Homeschool

Chemistry is a very interesting subject for any homeschool science curriculum . It deals in reaction between two or more substances, color changes, heat production, production of sound energy, and much more. There is chemistry all around us, from a boiling egg, to making of pop corns, ripening of bananas, and burning firewood. As you study this subject, you will learn that there are essentially two kinds of changes: chemical and physical.  Physical changes are those changes where the substance appears different, but it is still the same in its constituency. For instance, when a sheet of paper is torn, the consequence may be pieces of paper. However, it is still paper. Chemical changes are those changes where atoms in the molecules are rearranged and create a different substance all together. Moreover, there is alteration in energy and color. For instance, when paper is burnt, the molecules making the paper undergo transformation an...