What does a conversation about social media look like between you and your children?

[Orangeandgold]

I’m watching the documentary Swiped, about the school that bans social media for 21 days as a challenge. The stories about the parents that have lost their children because of social media have left me emotional - and what’s crazy is that as parents it seems that they have done everything you’d expect.

My DD is 12, we have daily conversations about social media - but I also try to just ask her about her “online life” as I would her “school life” etc. I have to trust that she is telling me everything. Yes I monitor it every now and then - but the parent settings on TikTok and Snapchat have been so glitchy and don’t do anything!!

With that in mind, I’m curious to what conversations in other households look like. What does your child share with you about social media and what questions do you ask them? What else can I do as a parent? Particularly if you are more on the “I trust my child” side as opposed to being super over protective.

My teens are just that bit older, so I wonder if it's different, but mine aren't that into social media. In fact DD's grid is completely empty, and DS doesn't even log into socials.

Screentime for DS is more YouTube videos and gaming. I know these are technically social media but he doesn't really interact on them, I feel like it's more the equivalent of watching crappy tv - and if he plays online, it's only with "real" people. Screentime for DD is Netflix and YouTube.