Editor’s note: The 2024 AAP National Conference & Exhibition is taking place from Sept. 27-Oct. 1 in Orlando, Fla. For more coverage, visit https://bit.ly/AAPNationalConference2024 and follow @AAPNews on LinkedIn, Facebook and X.
What are TikTok’s privacy settings? Can parents control what advertising their children see on Facebook? How do parents limit the amount of time their children spend on Instagram?
The Glossary of Digital Media Platforms has the answers. The new online resource from the AAP Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health was announced Sunday during the 2024 AAP National Conference & Exhibition.
“Parenting around media can be so challenging,” said Jenny Radesky, M.D., FAAP, co-medical director of the Center of Excellence. “Figuring out what apps and settings are best for your family is an important part of the conversation. At the center, we created the Glossary of Digital Media Platforms to make it a little easier for parents to learn about each app and figure out what settings and tools exist to keep their kid safe while connecting online.”
The glossary contains detailed information on eight digital platforms, including Apple, Discord, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok and X, with more to come. Users click on a platform to learn about its default and customizable safety settings; messaging and friending controls; screen-time management settings; parental controls and more.
The center plans to add more platforms. Roblox, YouTube and WhatsApp are among those in the works.
Each page includes a description of the platform from Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that rates and reviews apps, movies, games and more to help parents decide what’s best for their child. The glossary is designed to give parents information, not to editorialize or influence decisions.
Dr. Radesky and Megan A. Moreno, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.Ed., FAAP, center co-medical director, introduced the glossary as part of their plenary address. The glossary joins a roster of resources available at aap.org/socialmedia that includes conversation starters for parents concerned about how their children are using social media.
“I kept hearing from parents, ‘I don’t even know how to start this conversation,’” Dr. Radesky said Sunday. “’It’s so cringey. It’s so overwhelming. My kids shut down.’”
The center’s activity cards also can help those critical conversations be playful and productive instead of parental lectures.
Dr. Moreno urged pediatricians and parents not to take a doom-and-gloom approach when talking about the sometimes-dangerous social media landscape with kids.
“We can give ourselves grace for these initial reactions of worry and fear, but we have a choice to make on what we want our reaction to be going forward,” she said. “We can choose open-mindedness. We can choose curiosity. We can choose evidence over hype, and we can stay centered on our patients and families.”
