Six Social Media Practices to Model for Gen Z
As digital natives, members of Generation Z are more comfortable online, particularly on social media, than they are in most other spaces.
But there is a negative side to social media, particularly due to the lack of regulation on what gets shared. Misinformation runs rampant. Anyone can create a meme with data that seems convincing, and photos can easily be manipulated or faked. Social media networks also tend to create an “echo chamber,” where someone is only hearing from those voices they have chosen to follow, and they can always “block” or “mute” any voices that don’t fit within their narrative or paradigm. The influencers with the largest followings have the loudest voices, whether or not their information is correct.
So what is the church’s role as we help Gen Z engage online? Most of those in Generation Z are still very young—students in elementary, middle, or high school—that may not yet know how to navigate the pitfalls of social media. How can parents and church leaders’ model healthy social media practices for their Generation Z kids and teenagers?
A recent Kids With Tech survey from Porch suggests that parents of children and teens are highly involved in monitoring their kids’ online usage. Over 81% of parents surveyed monitored their children’s internet use, and nearly 67% trusted their kids to use the internet responsibly.
However, knowing how your Gen Z teen or kid spends their online time and guiding them toward wisdom on social media are two different things.
As we all spend more and more time on social media, and as we model healthy online practices to Gen Z, there are a few quick steps we could take to make sure we don’t fall into these negative traps of social media:
Expand your echo chamber. Make sure you intentionally follow people who don’t look like you, believe like you, worship like you, or even vote like you. Be wary of believing something simply because someone famous or popular said it was true.
Subscribe to several news outlets. Rather than only hitting the push notifications for your preferred cable news network, follow a range of news providers, from local, national, and international sources.
Verify the content before you like and share. Check to see if the data and statistics can be backed up by a trusted source or by multiple news outlets. If the story seems too good to be true, it just might be.
Ask, “Is what I’m sharing going to bring good or harm?” Often, people want to post to generate likes and followers. This is done most frequently by sharing controversial or negative content. We all need to check our motives before we put something out into the online world.
Remember there is a real person on the other side of the screen. While bots and social media trolls do exist, most often the avatar you are chatting with is a real, live human being. It’s easy to forget that and create emotional distance between ourselves and the people on the other side of the post or comment thread.
Don’t forget to log off social media. Set screen time limits for yourself and your family members, especially in the evening hours before going to bed. There’s a whole big world outside of the internet; get out there and enjoy it!