Must Watch: CNN documentary shows parents the importance of being DijiWise

ADOBE STOCK PHOTO CREDIT

ADOBE STOCK PHOTO CREDIT

CNN’s Special Report on Monday, October 5th, #Being13: Inside the Secret World of Teens, covered how social media has changed what it’s like to be a teenager in the US. A year of research was conducted with over 200 13 year-olds to find out how teens actually use social media. CNN also reached out to parents to see what they thought of their kid’s social media usage. Parents wanted to understand their kids’ worlds, but many said that keeping up with their kids’ social media is like chasing a runaway train. At DijiWise, this is a pain we personally understand and a core motivation for designing our DijiWise app to be the monitoring app for kids’ social networks. CNN found that not only are teenagers actively using social media but are also spending a significant amount of time passively scrolling through social media without posting anything.

 
Parents wanted to understand their kids’ worlds, but many said that keeping up with their kids’ social media is like chasing a runaway train.
 

From their write-up of the report, CNN found that this “‘lurking,’ reading the never-ending stream of their peers' activities without posting anything themselves,” only greater emphasizes those who are popular and those who are not. A selfie posted by a popular kid will get a skyrocketing number of likes simply because they are already well-known. For kids who aren’t usually invited to hang out with others, seeing photos of movie gatherings and mall trips on Facebook and Instagram makes them feel even more isolated.

The report revealed how social media amplifies the feeling of exclusion.

“When we asked 13-year olds ‘What is the worst thing that happened to you on media,’ their responses included these:

  • Being excluded to some parties.
  • My best friends hung out without me, and posted it on instagram.
  • My friends went out without me and posted pictures on instagram then denied they were out together.
  • Not anything specific, but I don't like when people post pictures or tweet about a party that I wasn't invited to.
  • Seeing pictures posted by my friends doing things where I wasn't included.”

It’s common to feel excluded when we aren’t invited to an event, but social media allows kids who weren’t included to see the fun that they missed out on. And even if the party wasn’t great, a quick smile for the camera means that the photos from the party made it seem great. People tend to share happy moments on social media and not the difficult ones, a distinction that may be aparent to an adult but to kids. For middle schoolers, the line between the real world and the cyber world doesn't exist. This imbalanced perception affects teenagers as they develop their own self-identity and understanding of the world. As parents, it’s important to communicate to our children the filtered nature of social media and how they are never alone in their struggles.

 
For middle schoolers, the line between the real world and the cyber world doesn’t exist.
 

At DijiWise, we feel that monitoring our kids’ social media activity is only the first step. We believe in having open and honest conversations with our kids to help guide them through some of the most formative years of their lives.

DijiWise Contest Rules

We're excited to start off the school year with a DijiWise Contest! Here are the rules to the contest on Facebook, but also check out our Twitter and Instagram to participate.

Like our Facebook page and comment on the picture posted on Monday, 8/24/2015, and you will be entered to win a $50 coffee card to the vendor of your choosing. The winner will be randomly selected from the comments section and must verify that they “liked” our page.

The contest will end on Friday 8/28/2015.

The winner will be notified by a response to their comment on Monday 8/31/2015 and asked to email their shipping address to dijiwise@gmail.com. The prize will be mailed to the winner as soon as possible.

Must be 18 years old to enter, valid only in the United States.

This contest is in no way affiliated with Facebook.

DijiWise Moment: A new kind of ‘stranger danger’ conversation

DijiWise brings awareness to parents about situations that don’t always come out in conversations with our kids.

Here is a DijiWise Moment shared by a parent:

“Through DijiWise, I discovered that my 14-year-old son was having conversations on Twitter with people that I was certain that he did not know ‘live.’ I saved a few of his tweets on the DijiWise app and brought it up in the car ride to practice. During that conversation, I discovered that not only was he communicating with several strangers on Twitter, he was also exchanging private texts on KIK with many of these people. I realized that the stranger danger talks we had when he was a kid playing on the playground needed to be redefined for his new playground, the Internet. Thanks, DijiWise, for that wake up call."

When we give our children access to the world in the palm of their hands, there is no doubt they are going to curiously explore. Help guide them by creating boundaries. If the boundaries are crossed, they need to have the same consequences for online behavior as they do offline. Setting up a family online safety contract is as great place to start. The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) encourages parents and kids to have an open discussion about what these rules mean and offers this contract to get families started on being safe online.  

Have a DijiWise moment that's provided a learning moment or enlightenment between you and your child through use of digital media?  Share it with us!

 

Get on our Invite List and be the first DijiWise Parents to gain membership access for when we launch on the App Store and Google Play!

Be DijiWise!

DijiWise's goal is to empower families to safely navigate today's digital world and part of that is being a source of valuable information. We've been in DijiWise Beta during these past few weeks and are integrating valuable insights from our beta testers into further development of the DjiWise app. Our team is working hard and excited to bring you the best parental app out there!

Our efforts to help parents become a DijiWise Parent extend beyond our mobile app. Here on our blog, we will share news and knowledge about digital technology and social media. Let's create a community that helps shed light on how kids are engaging with the digital world and how to have an open dialogue with them about it.

To kickoff the DijiWise Parent Central, here are three insightful articles to help you be DijiWise!

What Your Teen is Really Doing All Day Long on Twitter and Instagram
by Evie Nagy at Fast Company
"Microsoft principal researcher danah boyd addresses the fears and misconceptions that adults have about teens' use of social media, revealing that online networks can be a lifeline and a safety valve for a generation under extreme pressure."

How to Manage Media in Families
by Bruce Feiler at NY Times
"No technology agreement can be written in stone. It needs to be revised with every new child, every new phase, every new device and every new app."

15 Apps and Websites Kids are Heading to After Facebook
by Polly Conway at Common Sense Media
A list of the "hot" new social media networks to keep an eye on!

Be safe. Be smart.
Be DijiWise!

 

Get on our Invite List and be the first DijiWise Parents to gain membership access for when we launch on the App Store and Google Play!