Virtual friends: the new personal relationships
There are many teens who get hooked to what they have at hand and it's easier. The modern thing is to have thousands of "virtual friends"on social networks and waiting all day, with that nervous twitch of looking at the phone, that someone might send a message.They use social networks and other social applications as a technical platform to socialize, measuring their popularity by answering to everything that comes to them through the network.
The phrases that circulate most are: "How many thousands of followers do you have?", "Be the first to respond", "Answer immediately" "Make history". For many adolescents who are isolated in real life that is their only "window to the outside", they only have the opportunity to find many virtual friends with which to communicate through the cyber-space. But, also for the sociable is what they need to be all day in touch with their virtual friends or real. This means starting a race without end. They are always willing to answer everything that circulates on the network.
Virtual friendships and their consequences
Personal relationships between young people are increasingly difficult, because there are too many nomophobes, who have thousands of "virtual friends"and very few of flesh and bone.
Normally, those virtual friendships they are often lacking in content with which they can enrich each other. Socially they also isolate themselves, because they have not gotten used to talking with other real companions, analyzing their body languages, measuring their emotions, etc.
In many countries, the age at which children begin to age has dropped to 11 years. have your own phone. Most of the time nobody teaches them to use them with education, prudence, common sense and much less alert them to the dangers of their inappropriate use; from that lack of education comes sexting, grooming, telephone bullying, etc.
Rule 3-6-9-12 to warn children about cyberdependence
1. Before 3 years old: avoid the excessive use of electronic screens, since classic children's games are much more enriching for the child than sitting watching television.
2. Before age 6: avoid video games, because as soon as these are introduced into your life, monopolize all your attention to the detriment of other activities, may be the origin of the nomophobia and mobilfilia.
3. Before 9 years old: avoid using the internet unless accompanied by parents or teachers, who previously have to explain the three most important rules of its use:
to. Everything that is written or displayed there it can fall into the public domain.
b. Everything that is uploaded to the Internet it will remain there forever, because it is almost impossible to erase it.
c. Not everything that is there is true, so other sources should be consulted.
4. Before age 12: they can enter the Internet alone and use mobile phones, but their use must be made under firm and well-defined rules of use, as well as the corresponding parental controls.
5. From 12 years and up to 18: parents should be loosening the rules and controls, depending on the behavior observed on the education received, so that adolescent children are accustomed to exercise their freedom for when they are adults.
Tips for parents of digital natives
Parents should teach by example, create habits and habits of good use, to be able to guide children positively to telephone consumption and electronic screens, which although they have many positive aspects, also have negative and very dangerous as the problems of cyberbullying, sedentary lifestyle and even social apathy because of the dependency they generate.
Do not forget that they allow communication, development, integration, interactivity, the creation of social networks based on friendship and common interests, etc. We must avoid that nomophobia or mobilfilia result in young people with empty and unthinking minds.
- Help your children to comply with the rules, objectives and limits that have been set or negotiated, related to telephones and electronic screens.
- Dedicate them as long as possible, listening to them and trying to understand their concerns so they do not have to find bad "friends" on social networks.
- Be aware of what your children do in each moment, in relation to their telephones and electronic screens. In meetings with friends, family, etc., in the privacy of their bedrooms, in the hours dedicated to sleep or study so that the next day they do not drag the effects of those diseases.
- Increase the ability to put yourself in each one's situation of your children to understand the reasons for their attitudes.
- Try that technology does not occupy the role that the family has, but that helps to improve it.
- You have to know how to handle your own reactions and emotions before the situations, wrong or not, of the children.
Parents should be alert to this multi-screen generation, as they use them to "communicate" (talk, e-mail, sms, chat ...), "know" (websites, downloads ...), "share" (networks) social, photos, videos ...), "have fun" (online games, radio and digital television), "consume" (buy on-line).
In addition, all these activities can be performed in parallel, interactively, locally and globally, even anonymously under pseudonyms, which hide the real person who does it and increase the danger to malicious people.
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It may interest you:
- Children and new technologies: how to take advantage of their learning potential
- Adolescents, when to start in new technologies
- Engaged in technology
- Technology addicts
