Without social networks, until the age of 16?

There are many children and adolescents who have social networks since they were even 10 years old. Normally the social networks most used by teenagers today are Instagram and Facebook. And in many cases, having social networks at such an early age will only bring negative consequences.

Children want to grow up too fast but there are some limits that they must respect for good social and emotional development. If a child has social networks too soon, he will forget the importance of interacting with other people, he will lose social skills and also could fall into virtual problems and conflicts just because of his natural immaturity at those ages.

THE SOCIAL NETWORKS DANGERS

Social networks are very dangerous, a danger that children because of their emotional immaturity is difficult for them to really understand. They can meet people who pretend to be others and who end up being pedophiles, they can be victims of cyberbullying or even be bullies because of the ease that social networks give to say atrocities behind a screen affecting the emotional life of another,

It is difficult to control the true dangers of the Internet, even with good privacy settings . You may have ever heard that children are one step ahead of their parents when it comes to technology. Although a social network can be something that opens with the father or mother next to them, it will be a matter of time before children want to manage them at will.

At any moment of parental distraction, even just 10 minutes can be more than enough for children to get closer to virtual danger. Pedophiles or cyberbullying are real dangers, as is being able to access content that is unsuitable for their vulnerable minds.

SOCIAL NETWORKS AND FRIENDSHIPS IN CHILDHOOD

Friendships in childhood and adolescence can be difficult, and when something happens away from home you can always return to your home, your refuge, your safe place. On the other hand, when friendships become complicated on social networks, children can continue to feel terror even when they are at home, because they feel that they are not safe at home either … Whenever the phone is used, they will feel terror.

Social networks also have disadvantages. Even adults feel bad when we feel left out in any social situation. For a child and especially for a teenager, the slightest rejection can feel like the deepest pain. Worrying about someone not responding to your messages or not including you in a group chat can be devastating for them. Children and adolescents do not have to go through this before they can process these types of feelings correctly.

This does not mean that you are protecting your child too much, you simply have to make sure that he is mature enough to be able to control these types of emotions. Before that, you better not have social media. To do this, you will have to first work on your self-esteem, your critical thinking and your willpower. Only in this way if someone excludes you or has negative words towards you, you will be able to channel and respond better to these types of situations.

THE BEST AGE; AT 15 OR 16 YEARS OLD

The best age to be able to work on emotions and for children and adolescents to better channel and understand what they are for and how to use social networks is from 16 years old. Before it is too early for them to have them. At this age they may be mature enough to establish a good privacy setting for themselves, to be able to better process the information that appears on their timeline and, above all, to be aware that not everyone is what they seem.

It will also be very important to work on communication and family trust in order to improve the use of social networks and that if they have a problem they can come to you as soon as possible to solve it.