With the Internet becoming more entrenched in the everyday lives of kids, parents need to educate themselves in order to keep up, according to one expert.
While the technology available now may not have been around a generation ago, there are ways parents can learn about these tools in order to better protect their children, said Kelly Schwartz.
“It doesn’t take a lot to get yourself in the know about what’s happening with this media,” said Schwartz, director of applied psychological and educational services at the University of Calgary. “There’s a number of websites that parents can go to.”
Schwartz said with kids beginning to use social media at a younger age, it’s important to educate them early on.
“Certainly the use of technology in general, of which the social media are (apart of), it almost starts at the earliest grades,” he said.
“One of the things we can do is, sadly, instil a sense of healthy fear.”
