Our seventh and eighth grade students had an assembly program about the dangers of social media. The assembly explained some of the risks associated with social media and explained how students could act when they see inappropriate posts and content. They were encouraged not to ignore or scroll past inappropriate content. They were encouraged to block and report inappropriate content through app reporting mechanisms.
The Organization for Social Media Safety presented this assembly as well as a parent presentation was held in the evening. This organization provides social media safety presentations at schools all across the country, advocates for public policies that improve social media safety, and develops technology to provide real-time protection against any and all social media related dangers.
During the parent presentation, they shared a free resource to help parents navigate the constantly changing world of social media and technology as well offer some advice for how to approach conversations about these issues with your child. The resource for families is called, “Buckling the Social media Seatbelt.” This is how their website describes this course, which is a description of how they package some short informational videos: “With the Buckling the Social Media Seatbelt course, parents can learn -- for the first time in one place -- a comprehensive system to keep their child safe on social media. During the course you will learn from the experts in social media safety -- what social media safety conversations to have with your child, what safety rules to set, and how to calibrate the settings for your devices and social media apps.”
While this can be an overwhelming topic for families, having some up-to-date information on how to manage settings to assist with social media use is particularly helpful, research-based information. Here is the link to the free resource if you are interested in this information: Buckling the Social Media Seatbelt
