A Parent’s Guide to Instagram – Reachout
An introduction to supporting your teen on Instagram
ReachOut is Australia’s leading mental health and wellbeing organisation for young people and their parents. We know from research that parents and carers are worried about their children using
social media. We understand that it can feel overwhelming to keep on top of what your child is accessing, and to manage how much time they’re spending online.
At the same time, being socially connected is very important for your child’s development, and social media is part of socialising and connecting with others today. Teenagers regularly use social media to bond with friends, keep up with their peers, meet new people, and learn about world events and current affairs outside of their immediate life.
Like any form of social engagement, social media comes with risks. Some of the most common of these include spending too much time online and being disconnected from the real world,
being affected by online bullying, sharing intimate photos, and having reduced self-esteem from judging oneself or one’s own life negatively by comparison with others’ ‘ideal’ lives as shown
online on sites such as Instagram.
The good news is, there are things you and your child can do to reduce these risks and enjoy participating in the online world. This guide will help you to understand Instagram and provide practical
tips on how to start a conversation with your young person about managing their privacy, comments and time online. One of our favourite features is the “10 questions to help you talk with your teen”, on page 38 of the guide.
If you’d like to understand more about supporting your teen with social media, head to ReachOut Parents webpage on social media. You might also like to chat to other parents in our forums and
hear about strategies they’ve used to support their teenager.
The ReachOut team
