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Helping your child navigate today's social media can be an overwhelming challenge.  Questions range from deciding the appropriate age to own a cell phone, to navigating safe and dangerous apps. This page will be continually updated with articles and resources to help parents and guardians navigate this complicated and ever-changing world.

First Cell Phone

Is your child asking for a cell phone? If they aren’t now, they probably will be soon. Fortunately, there are some great first cell phone options for kids who are not ready for a full smartphone. This resource looks at the features and compares Gabb vs. Pinwheel vs. Bark devices to help you determine the best option for your family.

First Cell Phones for Kids

Teen Apps and Monitoring

Smart Social- Popular Teen Apps

Parental Control Software

Teen Slang, emojis and hashtags

• With students having constant access to social media, texting, and the internet, they’ve managed to create a secret code language that hides their behavior from parents and teachers. Some students who use code words and secret hashtags feel like they can easily misbehave because their parents aren’t even aware of what they are chatting about. It’s important for parents and educators to stay informed on this ever-changing teen slang that is so prominent today on social media.

Screen Time

With studies indicating that too much screen time can have a negative impact on children, many parents are searching for ways to protect their kids and regulate screen time. 

100+ Offline activities

Viral Challenges

Viral challenges encourage students to do dangerous things to garner likes, views, attention, and subscribers. These challenges can be found across several social networks and may encourage students to perform dangerous activities. SmartSocial.com keeps parents updated on these social media challenges before an incident may occur in your community. 

Tik Tok Challenges

Swatting

On Our Sleeves Social Media Resources

• Kids and Social Media – includes age recommendations, how to know if a child is ready for social media and the risks and benefits

• Talking to Kids About Social Media – with conversation starters to help you learn more about how they’re thinking about social media

• Using Social Media Wisely – covers talking with kids about oversharing and marketing

• Privacy on Social Media – a checklist for keeping children and families safe online

• Creating a Family Social Media Plan – we provide a template to use so that the family can come to an agreement on social media use

• Does Your Child Have a Social Media Problem? – we give warning signs to look for and what to do if there is one

• Social Media’s Impact on Kids with a Mental Health Diagnosis – social media isn’t all good or all bad, but for certain kids with a diagnosis of ADHD, depression, anxiety or an eating disorder there can be additional risks. We outline those and provide recommendations.