Credits: Social Media
Children of overprotective parents have greater chances of falling victim to misinformation
Parents can’t monitor their children’s social media activities 24/7, which increases their risk of falling victim to cyberbullying and consuming misleading facts.
However, exposing children to misinformation from a young age trains their brains to tell facts apart from lies, thus making them better fact-checkers in later life.
Advantages of exposing children to misinformation
A recent study by researchers at UC Berkeley encourages parents to expose their children to misinformation online in limited circumstances with “careful oversight and education.”
Lead researcher, Evan Orticio, argues that parents who completely sanitize children’s online environment are putting them at greater risk of buying false misinformation in the future.
Parents should allow children to flex their “skepticism muscles and use these critical thinking skills within this online context in order to set them up for their future.”
They conducted two studies involving 122 children aged 4 to 7�to observe their skepticism level when exposed to different online environments.
They found that children exposed to more false information in the first study were more “diligent about fact-checking” in the second study. Whereas, children exposed to fewer false claims did almost no fact-checking.
“A computer simulation confirmed that the children in the more unreliable environments were more likely to debunk potential misinformation,” states the press release about the research by UC Berkeley.
The researchers emphasize that the point of the study isn’t to enhance skepticism in children; it is to give them the ability to use that skepticism to their advantage.
Building self-esteem in children protects them from the internet
Children these days are exposed to social media early on and the consequences are never pleasant. Watching TikTok for as little as 10 minutes daily affects�a little girls self-image, imagine giving them unrestricted access to the internet.
Entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and author, Gary Vee, has one suggestion for parents worried about their children getting bullied online.
He says the best approach is to ensure they don’t spend time on the Internet at all. While children are more vulnerable to falling victim to cyberbullying and other unethical practices, excessive use of social media, or�Doomscrolling can trigger an existential crisis�in adults.
As said earlier, it may not be possible to watch your children’s social media habits all the time. So, Gary suggests teaching them to be confident by building their self-esteem.
The number one thing to protect a child is to build their self-esteem. When a child is not insecure, they dont succumb to danger, he says.
