I was still thinking about this a couple of days ago when listening to a podcast about parenting. It wasn't even the topic or something that was briefly mentioned, it just popped in my head randomly. The process of bringing up a child is a very important and tricky one, it literally shapes them in so many ways. When it comes to the kind of contents kids consume, the parents have so much work to do than platform owners. Those ones are doing their businesses and want as much people as people to reach their content, and given what the world has become and the level of wokeness out there, they might not even be able to control who watches what. Children now have access to gadgets at very young ages unlike how it was during our own time.
The internet is a very crazy place, there are millions of contents flying around looking for who would consume them. Apart from there, there is always possibilities of coming accross contents that you didn't even search for. Now, imagine kids on such platforms or you on the platform with your kids around you. Take Twitter/X as an example, you can open up a thread and just see adult contents flying around in the comment section, it can be annoying. Another example is some websites that have these numerous Ad pop-ups about things that doesn't concern you or adult contents sometimes. The platform that I know that is very strict with the kind of content they allow to be posted is Instagram.
So how are parents meant to control the kind of contents that their kids consume? It's quite tricky because kids can be very curious and they have a level of openness to the outside world especially in school. However, a parent can only try to put their kids on the right path, remaining it will be solely up to the children. It might be easier to really control what the kids watch and consume especially when they are still small but as they get older, they have questions and know things as well.
We cannot prevent kids from using the internet these because as much as there are some disadvantages, there are still so many advantages. There are so many things they can learn online, so many educational contents that can be very intrumental in their learning phases. Using these gadgets will also allow them to be computer literate at a very young age and can also help them build their interests. So, as a parents, proper monitoring will go a long way when it comes to making sure kids watch the right contents. Of course, not in an uncomfortable way that will make them think you are hiding something from them. It might just build up their curiosity the more.
Instead, one should be genuinely be interested in whatever in what they are doing online and guide them through. Like solving an assignment, or watching an educative you tube video. One can enagage in conversation concerning those searches and make it more interesting and not look like you are actually monitoring them.
Also, I think there are settings on TVs where one can use the parental guidance feature so that channels that shows contents not fit for kids can be removed. I think this should be explored by parents especially on the main television where the kids usually have access to. Apart from this, I honestly also think kids should be taught about what is in the outside world. If they are aware, and also understand why they shouldn't go in search for it at their age, this could be a really good approach too. Some might not agree but I personally think it is indeed a good approach. Let them be aware, so they won't be unnecessarily curious and understand there is time for everything.
Thanks for reading ❤️