Parents are being warned that children may be addicted to social media, and screen time should be treated in the same manner as junk food.
Concerns have been raised nationwide that children are spending far too much time online, with consequences for their mental health and relationship with others.
Children’s commissioner Anne Longfield has warned parents that they must step up to prevent their children from bingeing on the internet during school holidays.
Aberdeen Professor Sarah Pedersen who specialises in media and communications at Robert Gordon University, agrees but believes parents must also consider the positive benefits of social media.
“If you consider the comparison which has been made to junk food, it is commonsense to follow the same theory in treating the problem,” she said.
“There is no denying that children can become addicted to social media, but only if it is allowed by parents in the first place.
“Just like junk food, time spent online should be treated in moderation.”
Professor Pedersen is also urging parents not to ban social media altogether.
“I think it is important to keep a sense of proportion instead of panicking,” she said.
“It is down to parents to talk to their children and monitor them, a ban isn’t realistic.
“Social media can help children feel less isolated during the long school holidays and enable them to build on and form friendships.
“It can even be educational, we have to consider both sides.”
The internet overtook television as the top media pastime for British children last year and children aged five to 15 are spending 15 hours a week online.
For mother of three and teacher Vicky Shedlock from Bucksburn, the statistics demonstrate the encroachment of social media and she is determined her 11-year-old son will not be joining the masses any time soon,
“As a parent I resent the fact that social media has become so normalised, although I’m lucky in that if my son’s friends want to see him they will usually pop by,” she said. “Of course he has asked why I won’t allow him on social media but I would rather draw a firm line at this age before my concerns treble as he gets older.
“I question myself as to whether this is the right response and every parent does that, but I know I can defend my robust view.”
Vicky also limits the time her son spends on devices and has rules in place when it comes to using his mobile at home.
“My son has a mobile phone but it is charged downstairs and it was agreed we would have access to it,” she said.
“It’s only used if he needs to ring us when out with friends.
“I think there’s far more pressure for girls on social media and I worry for my daughter.
“Maybe it is naive of me to think this but the world trundles on and social media will change.
“My husband plays computer games and he moderates my approach to devices in the house.
“We are probably the last generation that didn’t grow up with social media, and I feel sorry for all parents facing this.”
For one Aberdeen mother, giving in to her daughter’s pleas to innocently chat online with her friends led to a harrowing police investigation focused on paedophilia.
The child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was “bombarded” with sexually explicit pictures of other children within months of signing up to social networking site, Oovoo.
A police investigation is still ongoing, and the girl’s mother has warned other families not to be naive about the threat on social media.
She believed she had taken every precaution in protecting her daughter’s privacy, and says – were it not for her maturity – the vile predator in question may never have been reported.
“I obviously gave my permission for her to use the site, but she was just chatting with a select group of school friends.
“She was old enough to be on the site and while I didn’t allow Facebook, I still felt she deserved some freedom.
“We are very open in this family and it is my daughter’s maturity which enabled her to come to me in the first place.
“She told me a man had been trying to come into the group chat but he was immediately blocked.
“About a week or so later, it transpired he wasn’t blocked.”
The mother then discovered that her child had been sent images of a sexual nature, and was also urged to send pictures of herself.
“He bombarded the chat with sexual images of young children, a tactic which many paedophiles use to see how far they can push the boundaries,” she said.
“It got to the stage where he was sending so many images that my daughter did not even open them, and he also asked her and a friend to send him a photo.
“The police were involved and she was very open with them, but the investigation is still ongoing.
“Obviously she came off the site and I didn’t allow her on any social media for quite some time.
“I trust my daughter and what happened to her wasn’t her fault but you feel like you’ve failed as a parent.
“The experience was horrendous and can happen to anyone, you just never think it will come to your own front door.
“She is on Facebook now but I keep a very close eye on her, as do her siblings.
“At the time I felt very vulnerable as a parent knowing this had happened to my child, but we pulled together as a family.
“Parents need to be aware that this can happen, it is very difficult to police social media because it is a major part of children’s lives now.
“It was a learning curve for her and she is aware of what can happen.
“Having that mutual trust meant she could come to me about it in the first place.”
When children in the north-east return to class for a fresh term, many schools will also be sending out letters warning of the dangers of social media in terms of safety and bullying.
MSP and mother of two Gillian Martin is urging parents to be aware of the latest features such as Snapmap, which can reveal the location of users unless in “ghost” mode.
“Of course I was very concerned about Snapmap, and many children don’t realise their location can be viewed by complete strangers,” she said.
“People can even see if a child is on a bus or in a car, it’s terrifying really.
“There needs to be proactive advice for parents and the feedback I received when writing to people about the matter was really encouraging.
“Teachers cannot monitor social media but the more informed we are, the better.”
DIGITAL FIVE-A-DAY CAMPAIGN
The campaign, headed up by Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield, has been put together to help solve “one of the parenting world’s newest and biggest dilemmas”.
It is based on the NHS’s five steps to better mental health, which have been adapted to a digital context.
The “digital five-a-day” are:
- Connect to enable children to keep in touch but be mindful of privacy settings.
- Be active and have time to switch off and get moving.
- Get creative and learn video or coding skills, instead of just spending time online passively.
- Give to others such as positive feedback or reporting negative behaviours of others.
- Be mindful of how the desire to constantly be online makes them feel.
The campaign encourages parents to keep a note of how much time is being spent online.
