BELL COUNTY, Texas — Congress heard testimony from five CEOs of major social media companies, including TikTok, Meta and Snapchat on January 31. It's a first-of-its-kind hearing as concerns grow about the effects of social media on young people.
As Congress debates legislation to reign in social media giants, a local counselor is sharing some advice for parents who are dealing with addressing the challenges that come with kids being on social media.
As a father and family counselor, Josh Kellar is no stranger to the issues that can come with kids being online.
"What I'm hearing in my counseling room is that there's a lot of disagreement between parents about how to handle the challenges that their kids are facing," Kellar said.
Kellar wants to help parents navigate through the challenges themselves, rather than wait on legislation to intervene in the issues that are happening online.
"My biggest concern for kids is that because of how quickly everything changes online, that it's difficult for those responsible for their well-being to really keep up with that," Keller added. "Just when they figure out the tricks to keep their kids safe, something changes, and they don't know what to do anymore."
Kellar said knowing the platforms your kids are on better than them and having a presence on those platforms so your child knows you're seeing the same things as them can be impactful.
One thing to be on the lookout for is when your child might have ended up on the dark side of the web. Keller said parents know their child best, but if you see your child having bigger meltdowns, mood changes or isolating themself -- those are strong signs something is wrong.
"It's a pretty good indicator that there's something going on under the surface and because of how dominant of a role social media plays in their kids' lives, there's a good chance that it could be because of something that happened online," Kellar explained.
Kellar said social media can affect a kid's mental health differently, whether it's the ability for people to compare, cyberbullying or even exploitation.
Kellar stresses the open line of communication and that not every safeguard is going to be perfect. Figure out what works for your family, and lean on others in your community to support the vision. He also said it's better to be curious than harshly react as it can cause children to put a wall up.
"No teenager is going to like their parents meddling in their social life, but if they can have these open communication channels with their kids, it opens the doorway to be able to have the difficult conversations when something does come up on social media," Kellar explained. "Or for them to realize that 'My parents do care enough about me to monitor what's going on, you know, on my device'. "
At the Congress level, the push for change on social media for kids is coming from both sides of the aisle.
The social media executives say they are stepping up measures to protect their users by working with law enforcement and using artificial intelligence to identify harmful content.
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