For the most part, Jesse Miller sees many children as being tuned in when it comes to safety questions on the Internet and social media.
However, it’s an always changing landscape, so kids, along with their parents, need to stay on top of what is happening. This is Miller’s domain. He operates Mediated Reality, which provides social media education for businesses and schools, looks at online trends and offers consulting for social media issues. He has spoken at hundreds of schools across the country.
On Tuesday evening, at Ecole Willow Park Elementary in Campbell River, he spoke to a group of parents and listened to their concerns about children and the time kids spend at screens, whether it’s texting, gaming or posting on social media.
“That’s where some of the immersion concerns are coming from,” he said. “I can’t in good faith tell kids don’t go on the Internet…. We can’t stop the Internet from getting closer to our kids.”
Earlier in the day, he spoke to about 400 kids from three different schools about similar issues.
During the evening presentation, he outlined some of the trends developing but left much of the presentation open to parents to raise their main issues.
The world has changed dramatically, as Miller likes to reminds adults since they were young. It’s a world where Netflix sees not HBO as its main competitor but rather games like Fortnite, or a world where sexually explicit material can be accessed more easily through platforms like Snapchat or Instagram than through a Google search, or a world where kids can potentially earn money like professional athletes by becoming gaming stars.
“We grew up in a very different time,” he said.
As an example, he points out that in a few short years, the social media world has gone from one in which the message for parents was that Snapchat was the one app kids should never have to now where Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau have Snapchat accounts.
It’s also changed in a way where kids use screens at an ever-younger age, so Miller is speaking to younger kids, not just teens. In Campbell River, he spoke with students in grades 4 and 5, but he also does presentations for the youngest students.
“I never thought I’d do presentations for kids K though [Grade] 3,” he said.
At the same time, Miller warns parents from falling prey to headlines that add drama but not always a better understanding of real-world concerns. However, he does caution we are only now dealing with the youngest kids whose whole lives have been posted on social media from the time since they were babies, so it is too early to know what all the long-term impacts will be.
“We are starting to see emerging research of positive and negative impacts,” he said.
Miller also tells parents to be cautious of the information they, themselves, find online.
“You’re looking for good data. You’re not looking for the first thing that comes up on Google,” he said.
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So much material is available in so many forms, and kids will be able to find it. The key, according to Miller, in creating a balance is to provide a non-judgmental environment where children know they can approach their parents about what they find online. He also encourages adults to think about their own behaviour, such as taking and posting their kids photos without asking, even habits such as texting and driving.
“Kids recognized everything that is happening in our homes,” he said.
Miller says sometimes he makes presentations after something bad has happened in a community, but he recommends people take a more preventative approach to getting informed.
“You don’t need a bad event to become educated,” he said.
Miller can be contacted at info@mediatedreality.com. He also does a podcast called The Kids Are Alright at www.tkaapodcast.com.