The internet isn’t rated PG, but maybe it should be

There is just no running from it. Social media is everywhere.

Little kids have smartphones these days and they know how to work most social media platforms better than I do. 

Social media is a powerful thing, once you reach the age of “Screenager” (the age you spend about 6.5 hours or more on your phone) it is nearly impossible for you to think about anything else. 

The age of screenager is very important, to some people it is where they find where they fit with most people. If you reach this age and your phone is out of date you might feel like you do not belong. 

Due to this, parents have tried to get different forms of laws passed for the internet. The internet is just so hard to regulate. 

There is a dad in Colorado who wants a law to be passed saying that children under 13 should not have smartphones. There is an aunt from Bedford, Pennsylvania, who wanted something to be done for her niece. 

Her niece was getting severely bullied at school; she was being told only devils have red hair. She thought she could get away from it, but of course, in this time and age, when she got home, she was still getting the texts over social media. 

She was getting messages on things like Facebook, Instagram, and even on Kik. She kept being told to go kill herself. 

Her aunt went to the school principal, the police, and even contacted Instagram headquarters. 

They would not do anything, so her aunt finally smashed her phone, but it was too late. All the hateful words had stuck, and her niece took her life a week later. 

This story is important because kids feel more confident to say hurtful things when they are behind a screen. 

People do not get to see the reaction their words have on others, so they are more free with the hurtful things they say. There has been a major increase in the suicide rates in the past years. 

To try and minimize the damage from cyberbullying. There are other techniques besides just not letting your kid get a phone but doing nothing about what is happening online is not an option either.

Parents are not as aware as they think they are about what is happening online.

Many companies have made parenting control apps to help with this such as Bark. 

These apps help control screen time, watch for predators, and they can monitor what your child is looking up. There should be restrictions on this though too. No adult still wants their parents snooping through their phone.