Currently, a post by a mother on Facebook with the account Neli Wayong is going viral, sharing her experience about the dangers of using social media for children. Neli said that her son, who is still in elementary school, has an Instagram account.

Of course Mama Nenil has her own reasons and methods regarding the use of social media for her child, here Popmama.com provides the complete news.

1. Risks that parents may face when allowing their children to have social media accounts

Neli Wayong shared her story just to share it with other parents, but this could be a lesson for many parties.

"This is just to share, regarding the incident that happened to my son's IG account about 3 nights ago.

Yes, I allow my 4th grade elementary school child to have an IG, but as a parent I certainly cannot control my child's account, how do I control it?

Of course the child's account was installed on my cellphone, but now some social media in one application can accommodate several accounts. Then I really sorted every friendship. Those who don't know, delete, those who are strange, delete."

Mama Neli's security measures are such that children can continue to use social media in a safe environment.

Protection and how to protect children from people they don't know and are vulnerable to vulgar things

Mama Neli's story continued, her child's account turned out to be an acquaintance with a foreign woman. The conversation, which at first was normal, gradually started to get suggestive and finally he dared to send vulgar photos.

"Unfortunately, even though our account is private, it turns out that those who want to follow us and we haven't accepted can send messages via chat room from IG. As a result, that night, suddenly there was a girl's account at 11pm inviting my son's acquaintance.

At first I didn't do it, but I was curious, I asked her older cousin to reply to the girl's chat. Previously, she was very enthusiastic about inviting VCs (Video Calls), every time the VC was picked up, she immediately turned it off and in the end there was a conversation via obscene texts and vulgar photos.

I don't know whether the photo is really his or not, because when I saw the photo I immediately became emotional even though he had given me his WA number. The number cannot be SS (screenshot) because it has been deleted. Lastly, he was the VC because I was the one who appointed him."

Mama Neli also reminded other parents to be careful if their children are playing on social media. Luckily, his son was fast asleep so he wasn't looking at social media

2. The dark side of social media

The form of communication between strangers like the story above is an example of communication that can damage children and future generations.

Social media, especially Instagram, does have a dark side, this is very dangerous for children.

By browsing the Instagram search column, users find it easy to filter things based on accounts or hashtags. This is very good for making it easier for us to find something about what we are interested in.

But this can be a bad thing if used in the wrong way. Such as searching for certain hashtags that contain pornography or something that is not suitable for minors to see.

Not to mention, it is easy for children to get to know foreigners, even from other countries that we may have never visited before.

3. Tips for keeping children safe as social media users

If you want your child to have a social media account, you should have a way to keep your child safe as a social media user.

Here are some tips from Popmama.com:

- Make friends with people you know

On social media, teenagers usually compete to collect followers, if they haven't reached 1000 followers, they don't think they're cool. Mama needs to remind children to limit their followers and only follow the important ones

- Transparency with parents about what children do via social media

Parents can log in to their child's account. This is the best way to control your child's social media accounts.

- Control by checking history every once in a while

Limit the use of social media, 1 hour per day is enough for school children. This setting can be done on Instagram, after the specified time limit has passed, a reminder will appear to limit the use of Instagram that day.

- Limit communication with unknown people

There is no need to explain the child's background or origins to unknown strangers. Sometimes without realizing it, because we feel like we often communicate with strangers, we accidentally share our daily activities. This must be controlled and avoided. Make sure that the only people who know about your child's activities are those closest to you.

- Don't meet strangers

Lots of people ask to get to know each other and then ask to meet. Starting from the virtual world, then moving to the real world. Don't let your young child meet strangers outside of their parents' supervision.

That's what you can do to protect your children from harm. This can be considered a way for children to use social media safely. As for Mama, what type of parent? Are your children allowed to have personal social media accounts?