Different Ways to Monitor Kid’s Social Media Activity

In the last few years, we have seen most social media sites skyrocketing as far as revenue is concerned. Social media has become an important aspect of many people’s lives, especially our kids and teens. They use different social media platforms for different purposes.

For instance, Facebook is used to stay updated with news, friends, and families. Instagram is used to explore new photos and videos posted by friends and celebrities. Snapchat is used to share text messages in the form of snaps and videos. All of these social media sites have engaged kids more than ever.

They spend lots of time on these apps, often neglecting their other important work including school and house chores. While it is not possible to ask your kid to not spend more time on social media, what you can do is guard their social media use. You can set up a parental control or monitoring app on their device. Several monitoring apps like Android spy software and iPhone monitoring app are available in the market.

With these parental control solutions, you can monitor your kid’s social media activity even when you are not around them. When you find your kid spending more time on social media, you should instantly know they are becoming addicted to it. Now is the time to monitor their online activity and protect them from potential online risks.

Below, we have highlighted different ways in which parents can monitor their kid’s social media use. Let’s learn more about them.

When it comes to social media monitoring, most parents become clueless and squeamish. They think perhaps they are crossing a line. However, when they think that they are not invading their kid’s online life but protecting them from online dangers, it shouldn’t be a problem for them.

For parents’ ease, we have listed down a few important ways in which they can monitor their kid’s social media activity.

As soon as you find your kid getting obsessed with a social media platform, the first thing you need to do is add or follow them there. You won’t be able to see their private conversations on the app but you can see what they are posting on their profiles and what others are posting to them.

By adding or following them on their social media accounts, you can have an idea about what is going on in their lives. You will also find out what sort of pages and accounts they are following.

Link Their Accounts with Yours

If you are already using Google and are impressed with its services, then be ready to be amazed by its Google Family Link tool. This tool is perfect for families as it allows you to monitor what your kid is doing online. Moreover, with the help of this tool, you can also block apps and social media apps that you do not want your kid to use.

Consider the Google Family Link tool just like any other parental control tool. You can also set screen time, lock your kid’s devices as well as manage their apps. You can allow your kid to be online without having to worry about their social media activity because you can monitor them with Google Family Link.

Encourage Honest and Open Communication

Many parents often fail to pay attention to the importance of having open and honest communication with their kids. You should encourage open and honest communication with your kids so that they come to you if they face any issue on their social media.

When it comes to social media monitoring of your kids, you do not only pay attention to what your kids are posting online. In fact, you also want to see who is reaching out to your kids and what they are saying to them. You would never want any random or stranger person to talk to your kids about inappropriate things or simply bully them online.

Therefore, it is important that you pay close attention to your bond with your kid. Make them comfortable around you so they can reach out to you when or if they ever face a problem on the internet or social media.

Another wonderful way to monitor your kid’s social media activity is to only allow them to use social media on their computer devices. Your kid can explore the depths of social media when they are using them on a smartphone and it can be hard for you to monitor what they have been doing on social media apps such as Snapchat.

You need to instill a rule in your home that you can only allow your kid to use social media on their computer. Also, place the computer in an area where you can easily watch your kid using social media. They must be using social media under your supervision.

Get a Monitoring/Parental Control App

Another best way to monitor your kid’s social media activity is to use a monitoring or parental control app. If your kid is using an Android smartphone, you can consider installing Android spy software on their phone and monitor their online activity without them knowing.

For iPhone devices, different iPhone monitoring apps are also available. You can also set up these monitoring and parental control apps on their computer devices. By using monitoring apps, you can find out what sites your kid was opening, how long they were on those sites, what pictures or videos they have posted on their accounts, who they send a message, and what sort of messages they exchanged with others.

Monitoring and parental control apps allowyou to full control over what your kids did on social media and also make you see what they did. Different monitoring apps are available in the market that can help you monitor your kid’s social media activity. Be sure to pick the right one.

We do realize that this step might sound like a no brainer but you can easily forget checking up on your kid’s social media history. You need to check your kid’s social media history on their computer so you can find out what they have been doing online.

You can see which tabs your kids had opened to send messages to others on social media and what they have posted on their profiles. Also, on their social media accounts, you can also find out about the recent things your kids have searched for as well as the people they have looked for. Find out who those people are and why your kids were looking for them on social media.