I had a chance last night to speak to the Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association about social media and social media security.
My opening question was simple:
What does social media and hammers have in common?
The two main points of my talk were the following:
My first point was:
You wouldn’t give your 13 year old a box of nails and hammer and tell them to go build something without first showing them how to properly use a hammer. This means as parents you are going to need to know the difference between a snapchat and an instagram. The days of being able to say “I dont do that internet thing” are over.
My second point was:
According to the FBI 2011 496 people were killed by hammers. It was terrible and tragic misuse of the tool. The way to fix that isn’t to ban hammers. This applies to social media also. There are tons of tragic cases about when people misuse social media but that shouldn’t stop you from letting your child use this very important communication tool.
This was one of the favorite groups I have talked to all year. These people all have amazingly loving hearts for kids and want to do what is best for them. It was great to talk to a group of such involved parents.
