Let us consider social media in parenting

cyberbullying

Cyber bullying.  Children can also be exposed to harmful and violent content, as well as a greater risk of cyberbullying

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

Technology has radically changed the world of communication. The evolution of ICT has yielded positive societal change with immense value addition growth. Nevertheless, it has given birth to unprecedented challenges that are now becoming a threat the world over.

Cybercrimes such as phishing, cyber extortion, cryptojacking, money laundering and cyber espionage have soared. Of great concern is the impact of social media on parenting. Social media services are geared towards boosting connections, interactions and building communities by enabling users to create, co-operate, modify, share and engage with each other with ease, timely and cost effectively.

The world has been digitised into an ‘internet village’ with social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn, MySpace, Skype ,YouTube, Google, podcasts and weblogs used extensively for communication and education.

Covid-19 pandemic

Embracing ICT is the new norm, as evidenced during the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic. When all learning institutions were closed, they adopted virtual classes. Most institutions are encouraging their staff to work from home, which is facilitated via internet connectivity and virtual meetings. This has made a majority of households to have smartphones, laptops and internet connection.

Youth have embraced social media to exchange ideas, feelings and personal information. But amid the positives, vices have been reported within families. Cases of academic distractions, psychological distress, anxiety, bullying, abnormal isolation and social withdrawals are on the increase.

Appetite for shortcuts

Our teenagers and youths have become lazy, with little or no time for research but with a huge appetite for shortcuts, quick-results via internet applications. Bizarre and unimaginable things are taking place via social media platforms — such as fake job adverts, lotteries, scholarships, cultism, phishing, online radicalisation, terrorism and dating with huge consequences for those who fall prey to them.

Many teenagers have been forced to employ alternative methods of getting a quick buck to satisfy their social media egos and engagements. Online porn-site recruitment is rampant with abnormal psycho-social behaviours on the rise.

Various theories — such as the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and Theory of Reasoned Behaviour (TRB) — allude to the fact that the influence of attitudes and behavioural intention on the use of technology cannot be over-stressed.

There is a close link between parenting styles and children’s use of social media and academic performance. Parents need to know how to teach their children to make appropriate decisions around technology. Besides, there is a need for the implementers to incorporate social media in the computer studies in the competency-based curriculum.