What dangers are behind the use of social networks? Manual of good behavior in RRSS

Once the digital age has taken over our lives, human beings have entered a possible point of no return, as the famous novelist Franz Kafka would describe it, who claimed that this point had to be reached.

Social networks have become a fundamental element in our lives, keeping us connected with millions of people around the world. Nevertheless, along with the benefits that these provide us have also come a series of dangers, both for us and for our children.

For this reason, this post is dedicated to highlighting what they are. the risks that currently threaten the world of Social media, what effects the use of these tools produces and how we can make good use of them.

What are the current dangers that social networks have on children and adolescents?

Yes, safety is important, much more so when it comes to children and adolescents who may be our children, grandchildren, nephews, cousins ​​or friends. Today social networks have attracted millions of people around the world, including the youngest who are seduced by its content and its usefulness to connect with different people.

It is true that these have an age limit to register with them, but this is usually a vulnerable measure. The fact that our children have access to conventional social networks like Facebook It exposes them to a lot of risks.

These dangers that can range from viewing inappropriate content to being contacted by strangers with unknown intentions. That is why it is important that they know how to use networks properly to significantly reduce existing risks.

Next, we will mention some of the most common dangers to which they are exposed:

Privacy

The world of Social Media stores personal information that is shared with third parties in order to develop content according to our interests. Today networks are used to share photos and places where people go, this means that others can take advantage of this data with malicious intent.

contact with strangers

How many times have we told our children that they should not talk to strangers? In the era of global connection, the number of friends and followers is something that has become very popular among young people, because now the more numbers you have, the more famous you are.

Massifying contacts by accepting requests from unknown people increases the chances that our children are contacted by them for malicious purposes. Today society has become perverted to such an extent that in social networks there are adults who seek to deceive the little ones with the aim of sending them photographic content where they appear nude.

inappropriate content

Every minute thousands of posts are shared on social networks and sometimes the content is not suitable for our children. These networks expose to viewing publications containing nudity, violence, obscene language and many other things that are inappropriate for their age.

sharing of sexual content

Curiosity in adolescents linked to a non-existent sexual education makes this factor quite frequent in the networks today. As we mentioned, many young people and even adults who exchange photos or videos in underwear or nude They are unaware that this material can be used maliciously. For this reason it is necessary to supervise what our children do on social networks.

Addiction

Without a doubt, social networks are attractive, but we must be moderate in the use of these tools. Many young people reach the point of having health problems by disproportionate use.

It is important to clarify this point with them to prevent them from spending many hours in front of the mobile or the computer. Many of them They are usually connected until late at night, which can cause insomnia problems.

In addition to this, the excessive use of social networks can cause them to isolate themselves from the real world, of the family, cause poor performance at school, changes in behavior, among others. You can read more about social media addiction from here.

What do psychologists think of the effects that social networks have on young people and adults?

As we have already read, Social networks have become a fundamental element for communication. But How was it years ago when these did not exist? While it is true previously we had no evidence of this or the consequences that this would bring, but now that we know it has become clear that they have caused an opposite effect to what was thought.

Psychologists have repeatedly reiterated the effects they have, for example, increased depression, anxiety, suicide and others, especially commenting that this is reflected more than anything else in girls. because of this It has been discovered that from 2016 onwards the vulnerabilities are exploited.

Many specialists have used platforms such as Facebook to detect certain disorders, these are reflected in status updates, likes, comments, photos and other aspects. Perhaps this is the best way for parents to know the effect that these networks may be having on them.

But young people are not the only ones who can be affected by a behavior, adults are also part of this world, even though millennials have not been so harmed. Millions of people have turned the digital age into a completely different one, where today it is more important to create a profile on a network than engage in a face-to-face conversationwhere we create an ideal identity that is only the best part of ourselves, this and other situations are also a disadvantage.

Sometimes, people who use these tools for entertainment purposes they tend to be constantly checking and checking status updates from their contacts or inbox. So many of these feel despair when they do not have access to them, reaching the point of suffer disorders such as anxiety, stress or depression as a result.

How can we prevent these risks and make good use of social networks?

no doubt that there are a large number of risks to which we are exposed from the first moment we decide to register on a social network. Even since we take a computer to search for something on Google, since third parties can show us advertising according to our preferences.

There is a great deal of personal information that we share when using Facebook. Even more so if we do it frequently by publishing photographs, places we frequent, moods, unforgettable moments, among others. All this information is available to almost anyone who uses the social network and our privacy and security in RR.SS is in danger.

Yes indeed, the dangers in RR.SS they are innumerable. Every day there are new ways to extract extremely sensitive information from us such as bank account details. That is why, aware of each and every one of these risks, we must look for methods to prevent them, some of these are:

Social networks for children and young people

There are social networks dedicated to the smallest of the house that are intended to provide an alternative to what Facebook, Instagram, among others, represent.

Lego Life, Picapon, Messenger Kids… There are social networks for children suitable according to the age of each one. Our children can choose to register in one of them so as not to be exposed to the common dangers of the social networks that adults use.

supervision of our children

If we allow our children to use conventional social networks, the correct thing would be to supervise the content that our children share both in their public profile and in messaging. no doubt that if we can monitor what our children and young people do we will have the opportunity to correct this in time.

It is also important that before entering this world whose dangers are the order of the day, we talk to our children about them. It is necessary for them to be aware of what they are exposed to, how to avoid it and how they can make proper use of these great tools.

set schedules

It applies both to the little ones and to us. It is important that we make moderate use of these tools so that later we will not have family or work problems or that our children lower their performance at school.

It is important to establish a series of schedules, distribute our time in different activities and evaluate what are the moments indicated to use them, so that we do not become addicted to them.

If we are going to take the mobile with us to some other place it would be a great idea to close our session while we are not using it, since in this way we will prevent notifications from stalking us every minute and we will also be able to save some data on our device.

Do not provide information

Phishing is a technique widely used today for others to obtain very important information from us. This works by sending messages claiming that there are problems with a website or banking service that we use.

Given this, keep in mind that banks will never request your personal information through informal channels such as Facebook, so be very careful with this method that can extract relevant data for unknown purposes.

Adjust privacy

Social networks like Facebook allow us to choose who we give access to the content we publish. It is important that we make these privacy settings Otherwise, anyone who signs up for this social network could access your profile and look at everything you post.

Choose your contacts well

It is important that we do not give access to our information to people we do not know. Accepting requests from strangers allows them to access our profile and to our content even if we have made privacy settings.

Be careful what you post

Telephone numbers, address or the place where we are. There is a lot of personal information that we should not post on social networks since anyone would have access to it and seriously compromise our security.

It is important to make good use of social networks, everything we share in it can generate an effect, That is why you have to be extremely careful with it.