Is Ten Years Old Too Young for Social Media? No — Here’s Why
Social media is used by 1.8 billion active members every month. That’s basically 2/8 of the Earth’s population. It’s time to be educated on how you can help your kids with introducing them to social media.
“Parents should be role models.”
― Charles Wade Barkley is an American retired professional basketball player who is currently an analyst on Inside the NBA. Nicknamed “Chuck”, “Sir Charles”, and “The Round Mound of Rebound”, Barkley established himself as one of the National Basketball Association’s most dominant power forwards.
Trey is my awesome son who turned 10 on Nov 14, 2018. I can’t believe he’s 10 years old. It felt like five minutes ago he was five and I was just playing silly games with him in the living room.
But now that Trey is 10, it will be within the blink of an eye before he’s 18. So what I decided to do to stay ahead as a parent was something that many other parents feel is very unconventional. But guess what, I’m not like other parents. You should know that! If you do what the masses do, you’ll get what the masses get.
Here’s the deal: social media is HUGE. It’s monstrous. But most people don’t know the power of it. Well, let me rephrase that: most people know all the negative stuff about it but few people know the positive side to it.
I used to be of the majority. Only use social media to post personal things. I used to think that only my friends and I were having this awesome convo online. I used to post random things to get likes to boost my ego. And that’s what most people do.
But have you noticed something as of the past 3–5 years? Have you heard the word algorithm bounced around a lot? Have you heard the words Facebook ads and boosting your posts?
Yes — you have! And that’s because your social media will be used more like TV with the power of the internet. Your info won’t be private, you won’t be just talking to your friend and you will be bombarded with advertising. Yes. You will.
So how does Trey signing up for social media platforms have anything to do with what I’m saying? Good question. I’m helping him stay ahead of everyone else. By helping Trey maximize his social media platforms and creating a branded message, he will have a step up on those kids that simply use social media for fun.
Now understand something, he still will be using it for fun and always under adult supervision but for me to think that he’ll need to go to college, graduate and plop down a resume the old fashioned way and still be relevant is asinine.
Those days are over. In fact, when I worked as a Sector Program Assistant in a school district, I was in charge of hiring people and finding the right talent to work with out students in the classroom. I got many emails, loads of applications and a stock pile of resumes.
But one of the first things I did when I liked an applicant was to look them up on Google and Facebook, then Instagram.
It gave me insight on who they really were. People may think this is unfair but as far as I’m concerned, you’re not drastically different from work and your own personal life. This is not a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing — you’re pretty much the same person in or away from work. So the social media aspect helped me to understand the true you and not the representative you which will show up during the interview process.
My social media research worked. And it helped further weed out the knuckleheads. Now let me inform you on something: I know talent when I see it. I know what degrees people had on their resume and what they said they accomplished. But if I wanted to know the true essence of a person when they’re in a comfortable state, I check social media.
With that said, Trey has a leg up on the competition by doing it when he’s young. People always worry about “let them be kids” but do you realize that kids are forever obsessed with something and they go all-in for it? Who’s the only ones that stop them? The parents. The adults.
We tell them not to be so obsessed or to be realistic and we shit on their dream while wanting them to still be a child.
Social media will give him the chance to connect with his friends and other positive like minded people who are looking to level up. It’ll give him a chance to connect with people that are nowhere near him and level up with them. People that are about significant change and impact on the world.
Yes — connect with strangers. People outside of our area. Is this making you uncomfortable? Good. It should. Don’t forget that all of this is supervised by his parents. He won’t be freely online when he feels and he won’t post, comment, follow or do anything outside of the parameters until we say so. Oh and by the way, before he can even get on social media, he must do his chores.
There are many kids who’ve made thousands and millions of dollars using social media to their advantage. One of the kids that my son used to watch often is a kid who goes by the name Evan HD. All he started out doing was unboxing LEGO sets and posting himself doing this on your way. Simple. He’s amassed over 6 million subscribers and averages over half a million views per video.
It’s not uncommon for young kids to get involved in social media but let me be up front with you — you won’t stop them from doing it. It’s like sex: you can preach abstinence all day but at some point the hormones will take over and they’ll get down to doing it anyway. Do you want to act surprised when they do it or do you want to give them the right information and make sure you’ve got them covered when they do it?
I’m all over social media. I post content daily. You can find me on any social media platform @TheRealFredLee. It’s safe to say I’ve got Trey covered for when he decides to take over his own social media accounts and go in his own direction. But until then, I’m not going to act like he’ll never get an account and then try to teach him all of this at 15 years old — when he won’t listen or care.
As a parent, we can’t won’t allow our fears to stifle our kids growth. We have to stay read to be open minded and ready to stay ahead of the game.
Don’t try to get ahead, learn to STAY AHEAD.
#1Mindset
Fred Blumenberg
Be watchful for two programs that :
#1 MINDSET COACHING FOR KIDS (ages 3–10 years old)
#1 MINDSET TEENS COACHING (ages 11–18 year olds)
Go to https://www.therealfredlee.com/ for more information on these two programs!
Fred is a proud married father of four beautiful children. He’s worked in the school district for over a decade and has extensive knowledge on student behavior in the regular and special education sectors. Fred Blumenberg is a #1 Entrepreneur Mindset Coach who gets entrepreneurs to hyper-focus on monetizing their strengths to achieve greatness.
All articles on Medium.com will be towards helping parents who adopt the philosophy of the #1 Mindset — which is that no one’s made with weaknesses and there are no accidents.
Contact Fred Blumenberg today by chatting with him via the website:https://www.therealfredlee.com/
