Some posts are made to make us angry, scared or excited. Those feelings make us click and share before we think. Children meet these posts early, often before they can read every word.
You can’t check every video your child sees. But you can teach them a few questions that work everywhere, for life.
Notice the feeling first
Teach your child to ask: “How does this want me to feel?” Angry, scared, left out, special? A strong feeling is a signal to slow down, not to share.
Ask who made it, and why
Every post, ad and video was made by someone, for a reason. Ask together: “Who made this? What do they want me to do: buy, click, believe or share?”
An ad wants a sale. A headline may only want a click. Once you know the goal, the trick is easier to see.
Check before you share
Agree a simple family rule: before we share something surprising, we check it in one other place we trust. If we can’t check it, we don’t pass it on.
Show your child how you do it: “This sounds too good to be true. Let’s see if anyone else reports it.”
Spot the common tricks
- Attacking the person instead of the idea.
- “Everyone’s doing it”, to make us feel left out.
- “Only today”, to rush a decision.
- Headlines that hide the answer, so we have to click.
Make it a game. When you see a trick in an ad or a post, whoever names it first wins the point.
Try it this week
- Watch three ads together and ask: “What do they want us to do?”
- Agree your family’s check-before-you-share rule.
- Praise your child whenever they ask, “How do we know that?”
In the Library, Clickbait Detector and Who Made This? are free to play, and Spot the Ad and Check It go further. Chapter 4 of our book, Steady, is about turning information into wisdom. See the games from the book.
