Parents must learn the language and culture of young people online before having meaningful conversations with their children about it.
So says clinical psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, who told Firbank Grammar’s Social Media 101 information night that parents must help teenagers with immature brains navigate social media.
Dr Carr-Gregg talks about the impact of social media on teenage girls
Dr Carr-Gregg said a technology-free dinner time was the perfect way to talk and bond. Research showed that children who had this were more likely to do better at school and resist illicit drugs.
“The research is crystal clear and yet we have a decline in the number of families who are actually managing to do this,” he says.
While there was no firm evidence that their time online was affecting kids’ language skills or turning them into “sociopathic monsters”, Dr Carr-Gregg said it was important for parents to regulate use.
