Every parent wants to believe they can protect their child from things that may hurt them. So when parents tell me, “My child isn’t on social media,” I understand why that feels reassuring.
But in today’s world, keeping your child offline does not mean keeping them untouched by its influence.
Your child is already on social media.
They may not have an account or a phone, but they are absolutely being shaped by the influence of social media. All parents need to understand how social media impacts children and how to protect them from its harmful effects. Because just keeping them “offline” isn’t enough.
This Isn’t Meant to Shame or Judge You
Let me be very clear: I am not writing this to make anyone feel bad. As parents, we’ve all had moments where putting on Baby Shark or letting our kids dance to TikTok videos felt like a necessity. We’ve all got a complicated relationship with screens, my family included. As a therapist and fellow mom, I completely understand how hard this can be.
At Make A Way Media, we want to equip parents to raise brave, resilient kids. That is why we talk openly about the tough issues families need to be aware of. Helping kids navigate social media use is a necessity for all parents. Kids, teens, and even young adults all need to learn how to develop healthy digital habits.
My goal is to empower you to teach your kids healthy digital habits. This is about protecting kids from problematic social media use and the impact it can have on young people’s mental health.
But, before I can help solve the problem, I need you to understand how big of a deal this really is.
How Social Media Reaches Your Child Even if They Don’t Have an Account
Most of the time, social media exposure happens long before a child downloads an app. You see, internet culture doesn’t stay on a screen. It travels.
It shows up through:
- Friends repeating trends, dances, and jokes
- Conversations at lunch
- Group chats
- YouTube clips
- What kids wear, say, and value
- The games they play on the playground
- The way kids talk about themselves
According to the Surgeon General’s advisory, roughly 95% of kids 13-17 have used a social media platform.
So, even if you are a parent who is doing everything they can to protect their kids from social media, parental monitoring is only half the battle. You can set limits, promote offline activities, and place boundaries around social media use, but your kids are still learning about what happens online from their friends.
By the time a social media trend, belief, or message reaches your child, it has already been repeated so many times that it has become normalized and accepted.
Social media culture has become a part of our culture. We have to teach young people how to navigate it, whether we choose to let them have their own accounts or not.
How Social Media Impacts Self-Esteem
Social media is not neutral. It is a powerful force driven by what people like, follow, and respond to.
It teaches children:
- What is “cool”
- What is “beautiful”
- What is “funny”
- What gets attention
- What gets rejected
Children are developmentally wired to ask: Where do I fit in?
All this exposure to curated images, viral trends, and the peer pressure to do what everyone else does creates a loop of constant comparison. This makes many kids more self-conscious, increases body image concerns, and even impacts mental health outcomes.
Long before your child even has their own social media account, you may notice:
- Sudden interest in trends you did not introduce
- Language or attitudes that feel older than their age
- Increased comparison (“She has…” “They said…”)
- More concern about appearance or popularity
- Subtle shifts in confidence
These are not random changes. They are often signals about what your child is being exposed to.
Real Ways Social Media Impacts Children Every Day
I use this analogy often with parents who allow liberal social media access:
You would never allow a stranger to knock on your door and say, “Is your child home? I have something to tell them.” And then stand back and let them have a private conversation about what your child should do, think, or try.
Yet, that is often what happens when we hand children unlimited access to social media, or any device with online access.
Phones and tablets aren’t just giving your child the world. They are giving the world access to your child.
We may think they are just watching harmless TikTok dances, but these platforms are designed to capture attention, shape behavior, and keep kids engaged.
In fact, in March 2026, juries returned historic verdicts in two lawsuits accusing social media companies of neglecting the safety of children who used their platforms. These companies were found liable for intentionally and knowingly designing platforms to be addictive for children and teens, despite already understanding the toll this could take on mental health.
Translation: social media platforms are not looking out for your child’s well-being. And it’s not just kids’ mental health that is being impacted.
Social media use has been linked to poor sleep, decreased social skills, and even a sense of social isolation. When kids are spending time staring at a screen they are missing out on physical activity and the real life social interactions that they need to thrive.
Teaching kids healthy limits around screens is no longer just a nice idea. It is necessary to help protect their peace, confidence, and sense of self.
How to Support Your Child’s Mental Health in the World of Social Media
If this feels overwhelming, take a breath. Remember, I don’t want you to panic.
I do want you to be aware of what is happening though so you can use this guidance to support your kids. You do not have to do this perfectly. You do not need to have all the answers. What your child needs most is a parent who is willing to stay curious, stay connected, and keep showing up.
Here are 4 ways to help kids build healthy habits online and offline to safeguard them from the negative effects of social media platforms.
1. Talk About the Power of Influence Early
Do not wait until middle school to start teaching your kids about healthy social media use and the persuasive power of the online world. Stay tuned in to what young people are talking about and what your kids are learning about.
Ask:
- “What are kids talking about at school lately?”
- “What’s something everyone seems to like right now?”
2. Help Them Develop a Healthy Relationship with Media
Teach kids to question what they see and hear:
- “Do you think that’s real or edited?”
- “Why do you think people post that?”
- “How does that make you feel about yourself?”
Teaching kids to think critically is one of the best ways to reduce mental health problems related to social media. When kids learn that what they see online is rarely the full story, they are able to navigate the online world without getting pulled (as easily) into all the online drama.
3. Anchor Identity at Home
If your kids don’t know who they are, they will let the world tell them who they should be.
Regularly remind them:
- Who they are beyond appearance
- What you value as a family
- What actually matters in life
- What you appreciate and value in them.
External validation is loud, but internal confidence is protective. Children who feel secure in who they are are better equipped to handle the pressures that come with growing up in a digital world.
Real life social support serves as a buffer against low self-esteem and the negative effects social media can have on children and adolescents.
4. Teach Them to See and Grow Their Hope
This may sound like a strange thing to talk about in an article about social media platforms. However, as a therapist, I know that when people get sucked into the social media vortex, they stop seeing the real world and the good that is all around them
Now, more than ever, we need to know how to see and grow hope. I like to call these Hoping Skills.
Hoping skills teach kids that hard things are not forever. They help children understand that what feels big today will not always feel this heavy. Hope gives them something social media never can: an anchor.
If you’d like fun, interactive activities to help your kids develop strong “hoping skills” as a buffer against the potential risks of the online world, download this free workbook.
Time Spent Teaching Kids Digital Citizenship Matters
As much as we may want to coat our children in bubble wrap and hide them away forever, the goal is not to keep your child from experiencing the world.
The goal is to prepare them to walk through this world without losing themselves in the process.
Because whether we like it or not, the world is already reaching them.
The question is:
Are we helping them make sense of it?
Each minute you spend teaching kids to have a healthy relationship with social media, whether they have an account or not, will better equip them for daily life.