Why Parents Shouldn’t Create Social Media Accounts for Their Kids

Published: November 14, 2024

Why Parents Shouldn’t Create Social Media Accounts for Their Kids

By Movieguide® Contributor

Internet safety expert Jonathan Haidt shared a harrowing story that exemplifies why parents should be extremely cautious with child social media accounts, even when they run them.

“A chilling story about an 18-year-old and her Internet saga — from a snowboarding child prodigy with an Instagram account run by her parents, to a young woman grappling with pedophiles online on a daily basis,” Haidt wrote. “Luckily, her father deleted the images of genitalia that strange men on the internet sent to his 15-year-old daughter. Would that be your choice as well if you were a parent?”

“It may be tempting to make an Instagram account for, or about, your child, especially if they are gifted in sports, art, or another field. But by giving up their privacy, especially as a child, and by allowing strange men around the world to have access to your child, 24/7, you are giving up more than influencer income is worth,” Haidt added. “And that’s a calculus often made too late, or not at all.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jonathan Haidt (@jonathanhaidt)

Though many parents are still relatively new to understanding what it means to put their children in a position where the world has unfettered access to them, celebrities are used to this scrutiny. For this reason, many celebrities don’t allow their kids to have social media until they leave the house or when they are positive their kids can handle it.

HGTV star Erin Napier, for example, credits a nasty comment about her daughter as the reason her kids won’t have social media until they graduate high school.

“When my daughter Helen, who’s now five, was very young, I posted a picture of her, and someone criticized the way she looked,” Napier recalled. “It made me see red. It made my blood boil. And it seems like the criticism always comes from other women. It feels like betrayal when a fellow mother has the gall to criticize your child or your parenting.”

Napier believes more parents will follow her example, especially as generations who grew up with access to phones and social media at a young age start becoming parents.

“I think we’re going to see a huge change with parents that are millennials. I don’t have a single friend who is open to letting their child have access to a smartphone before the age of 16,” she said. “It’s not something we all discussed and decided on together. It’s something we just know. It’s not what our kids need.”