Posted by:

Michael Grose

The astonishing admission by Aussie Olympic swimmer Emily Seebohm that she spent too much time on Twitter and Facebook the night before her recent 100 metres backstroke final highlights the addictive nature of social media.

That moment she’d trained all her life for had been sabotaged by her her twitter-finger!

Amazingly, her coach Matt Brown said social media overload was an issue for his swimmers.

It also highlights how we are currently having the wrong public conversation about social media and young people.

Cyber-safety has hijacked the news. There’s so much frenzy around cyber-safety and bullying that we are missing the bigger issue!

That is, the addictive nature of social media use. There is no doubt that social media is changing the way young people think, how they behave and how they socialise.

That’s not to say we should over-react but rather we need to really consider how we can mentor young people to use social media smartly.

Social media expert Denis Masseni is way ahead of the curve when it comes to helping parents help kids with social media.

He is talking at my Parenting Extravaganza in Melbourne in two week’s time about the talk we should be having with our kids about using Facebook and Twitter.

He recognises that the social media issue has matured way beyond mere cyber-safety, that so dominates the airways.

I love chewing the fat with Denis about current issues because he is way out in front in terms of kids and social media.

Mark his workshop under MUST ATTEND.

He is just one of many great workshops you will attend at the Extravaganza.

Registrations for the Parentingideas Extravaganza end on 6th August.

Be part of the action in August.

Tags:

addiction, Facebook, media, social, twitter