One of the strongest fears most parents have is that their children will be exposed to the adverse effects of social media. This is a very valid fear, especially considering how wild the social media space is becoming.

As the world enters the technology age, it becomes more difficult to keep kids away from social media. Social media has advanced to the point of becoming the best place to communicate with others and also gain fast access to important news. Due to this development, parents are mostly left with little or no option but to allow their kids access to social media.

The question of when to let your children on social media is understandably one of the most asked questions globally. While social media has many benefits, it also has its bad sides, which can negatively affect users, especially kids.

Most social media platforms do not have strong restrictions for children under the appropriate age, exposing them to inappropriate posts.

Various professionals have answered the question of when to allow your children on social media, but read on to learn about our own perspective as parents.

The best time to allow your children on social media is when they are in middle school. When they are at least 11 years old. This may not sit well with many parents, especially as 11 is still considered very young.

A child at age 11 can still obey your rules with little or no argument. This way, you can easily set strict rules and monitor what the child does on social media. Waiting until your children are 16 before letting them on social media is risky because you no longer have much control over them.

Measures To Take When You Allow Your Children on Social Media

Seeing as parents do not have much control over whether or not their children should be on social media, we have to consider taking certain measures. The main area of concentration should be on how to ensure that your children do not get exposed to the negative side of social media.

Here are some of the measures to take;

1.) Try to control the algorithms on social media

While this may not be easy to achieve on some social media platforms, you can limit your children to those that can be managed. One such website is Reddit. Reddit showcases posts based on their relevance, which is determined through upvotes.

Some of my friends and I figured out how to control the posts our children are exposed to on Reddit. We used our children’s phones to search for some of the most relevant, eye-catching, and appropriate posts and ensured that they were the first posts to pop up when the page opened. We bought all our Reddit upvotes here online from a reliable source to help us achieve our goal.

So far, we have been able to control what our children do on Reddit.

2.) Monitor what the children do online

Go through your children’s social media pages to monitor what they do. Go through their friends list, and monitor the kind of content they search for and post. Talk to them whenever you notice something off.

3.) Parental control

Some social media platforms, such as Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, have parental control settings. You can easily control the kind of posts your children can access on these platforms. This is similar to what we did on Reddit, but it is easier.

4.) Place a time restriction

Social media is addictive even for adults; imagine what it can do to kids. Place a time restriction on when your children should be off social media. Some health experts have warned against the effects of too much screen time for children. The best way to handle this situation is by taking the phones from the children when it’s bedtime.

Sleep deprivation is dangerous for kids, and this can easily happen when they are online. Placing a time restriction is crucial for kids below 16.

Conclusion

Most parents wish to keep their children away from social media for as long as possible. However, considering how technologically inclined children are in today’s world, it is almost impossible to do so.

Keeping them away from social media will make them feel left out, and we don’t want that for our kids. The best solution is to let them on social media while you can still control them. This way, you can shape their minds to what is and what is not appropriate for them.

You can allow your children on social media when they are at least 11 years old. Lastly, ensure that they are mature enough to be given such an allowance. Make them understand that there will be consequences if they don’t follow your rules.