12/05/2025
As social media and digital spaces continue to grow in popularity, it’s important to highlight the unseen dangers of a child’s online presence and share a few simple ways to help keep them safe.
With access to countless websites, blogs, articles, and social platforms, the internet can be an amazing place for tweens and teens to learn and explore. But it also comes with risks like misinformation, inappropriate content, and phishing attempts.
To help create a safer online experience for your child, here are a few key tips:
➡️ First, make sure your child is following age requirements for different platforms. Most social media sites require users to be at least 13 years old.
➡️ Second, ensure your child’s accounts are set to private. This limits interactions with unknown individuals. Platforms like Instagram also offer Supervised Accounts, which allow parents or guardians to set time limits, apply content filters, and monitor followers and follow requests.
➡️ Third, be open and transparent with your tween or teen about safe internet use. Teach them what appropriate content looks like and how to notice things that feel off, uncomfortable, or inappropriate; whether that’s in chat rooms, video game lobbies, comments, social media posts, or instant messaging. Clear communication helps them build the skills to protect themselves online.
➡️Lastly, model the same behavior you want to see from them. By following these guidelines in your own digital life and demonstrating safe browsing practices, you show that online safety matters at every age. When you practice what you teach, these precautions feel normal and not overbearing.
A big thank-you to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) and Strong4Life for their helpful resources on this topic. If you’d like to learn more about online safety for your tween or teen, check out CHOA’s webpage, explore parental controls on social media and streaming sites, review online safety settings for video games, and stay alert. If something feels off or fishy, it probably is.
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