Is your child on social media?

And is it following any of the Social media influencers?

When we look at the times we were in our teenage years and compare our teenagers with that younger version of ourselves, we will notice a wide array of differences. Teenagers these days know how to dress up properly or what’s in the trend and what is not!

They know all about the latest stuff which includes technology, fashion, styles, dance, and everything else. Have you ever wondered where they learn this from? They are learning it from the internet and from the people on these social media handles who call themselves “influencers” for influencing their target audience. The behavior of your children is strongly influenced by the influencers they follow on the social media handles.

What Are Social Media Influencers?

In the simplest form, an influencer is the one that can influence. This influence can vary from following a fixed lifestyle to dressing up in a specific manner, from changing the state of mind to buying products of a particular brand and so on.

The term “Social media influencers” has come into existence only recently. Earlier, the term that was used to denote these influencers was “bloggers”. Yes, bloggers on social media have evolved into influencers.

They are the people who believe in sharing the authentic information with their social media audience. They can have both positive and negative effects on the growth and behavior of your child. There are many social media platforms that support the influencer culture but the most popular platform for these social media influencers is Instagram.

What Type Of Social Media Influencers Do Teens Like To Follow?

Most of the teenagers follow those social media influencers who can give a personal touch to their requirements or the ones who share the same interests as your teenager. They look out for those social media influencers that can be just like them or we can say the ones that make them feel comfortable.

The teenagers look out for the boy or girl next door that is synonymous to them, when they decide to follow a particular influencer on social media. Teens generally like to follow the ones who share information related to video games, unboxing of digital gadgets or toys or clothing or shoes, celebrities, beauty bloggers, lifestyle bloggers, celebrity players, etc.

How Do Social Media Influencers Affect The Behavior Of A Child?

The concept of the influence of these influencers is just like every other thing. It is both positive and negative. Some of the social media influencers believe only in expanding their network and brand value while others believe in serving authentic information and genuine knowledge to their followers.

Children, especially teenagers, find it uber cool to be on these platforms. And they love to interact with their friends and even strangers on social media platforms. They find happiness and peace in following these social media influencers. The reason behind this profound following is that they can connect to these influencers on a personal level. They feel like these people are a part of their friends group and that they get attached to these influencers.

The majority of the social media influencers believe in drafting the content that can be felt and experienced personally. They are those professionals who offer a personal touch. For this reason, all the brands prefer endorsing and promoting their products through social media influencers. Below are some points on which the social media influencers have an impact on the demeanor of your teenager.

• Materialism

The content that the social media influencers post on their feed in the form of posts or stories generally are filled with products and materialistic things. Children, especially teenages get tempted by them and they feel like owning the same articles. They enter a rat race of status hence ending up spending a lot of parents’ money on things that are not completely useful. 

• Lifestyle

The lifestyle that the influencers showcase at their social media handles is very shiny and flamboyish. Other than this, some influencers genuinely work to spread awareness about following a healthy lifestyle by eating clean, working out, or doing things that can be beneficial for their development. 

• Motivation and positive thinking

Many social media influencers trigger the importance of thinking positively. They motivate others to draft their life plan and start working for it accordingly. They share their life experiences so that their followers can learn from them and move ahead. Also, they try to inculcate good habits in their followers. For instance, recently, some of the influencers were seen promoting the benefits of following social distancing and basic hygiene methods in this time of pandemic.  

• Bad habits

While the majority of social media influencers are seen promoting good things on their handles, some of the influencers are known for sharing things that can be dangerous and can incite bad habits in teenagers. Some are smoking or drinking alcohol while some show off by driving at a high speed. When teenagers see such stunts, they feel like trying them in real life. It can potentially damage their evolution.

Conclusion

By reading the article above, you must have known that the social media influencers definitely affect the behavior of your child’s development. To make sure your child is on the right track, become casual with them and ask them about their favorite social media influencers and why they like them. This in turn will reveal a lot of useful information and you can then decide if your child is following the right influencer or not. Let us know about your views in the comments section. 

The post Are Social Media Influencers Affecting Your Child’s Behavior? appeared first on Parenting Tips: Modern Parenting Techniques for Digital Kids.