Mars Area Public Library hosts class on keeping children safe on social media
MARS — The Mars Area Public Library hosted a course for parents on how to control their child’s social media consumption on Monday afternoon, Dec. 9.
The course, taught by licensed professional counselor Alexandra Dimoff, dove into vital tips and topics that parents might need to know to keep their children safe in a world increasingly dominated by social media. These included ways to limit their children’s device usage, how to enable privacy settings, and how to both uninstall their device’s internet browser and make it so that the children couldn’t easily download it again.
Dimoff also discussed the intricacies of, and differences between, the social media platforms Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, and the dangers for children that lurk on each platform.
During the course, Dimoff recommended that parents ban their children from using TikTok due to the dangerous nature of some of the “challenges” found on the platform. These include the “blackout challenge,” where Tik Tok users are encouraged to hold their breath until they pass out. This resulted in the death of 10-year-old Nylah Anderson of Chester, Pa., in 2021.
