Children use social networks: Need to strengthen the supervision and guidance role of families and schools

According to a survey by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, children use social networks more and more, up to 5-7 hours/day. Therefore, children are very easy to fall into the “trap” of strangers online.

According to the same survey, only 36% of children, mostly aged 16-17, are taught about online safety.

In the first 7 months of the year, there were nearly 270 calls to the Child Protection Switchboard 111. Most of the calls for consultation related to 3 major problem groups. These are counseling on child sexual abuse in the online environment, advice on how to use the internet safely and counseling when children are seduced and solicited.

Although, the Internet and social networks bring children many positive values, helping children learn about the world easily, meet and interact with many people, share feelings and information. … however, heavy use of social networks also comes with negative problems for children such as access to fake information; access malicious content; addicted to using social networks. When children are not aware of all the dangers lurking when using social networks, parents are also the ones who supervise and actively protect children.

Dang Hoa Nam, Director of the Children’s Department (Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs), said that in the coming time, it is necessary to strengthen the role of families, parents and schools in training, supervision and direction. guide children to use the network safely, know how to do and shouldn’t when using utilities and online applications as well as how to recognize harmful and inappropriate information and video clips, how to control personal information to actively protect children. For acts of child abuse in the online environment, stronger sanctions are needed.

At what age should parents allow their children to access social media?

Many studies have been done by experts, including 1 study by child psychologist – Ika Putri Dewi, M. Psi, has shown that 12 years old is the right age for children to approach MX. Currently, both domestic and foreign social networking platform providers, including Facebook and YouTube (Google), have the same regulations that only allow people to open new accounts from the age of 13 or older. Parents must avoid allowing their children to use social media while they are still under the age of 13 to avoid negative effects on the child’s psychological and social life.

Basically, every social media has applied age rules for its users, including: Whatsapp: 13 years old; Youtube: 13 years old; Facebook: 13 years old; Instagram: 13 years old; Twitter: 13 years old.