OUR TEAM OFFERS EXCELLENT RESOURCES AND SUPPORT TO HELP KIDS AND TEENS WHO ARE EXPERIENCING SOCIAL MEDIA ABUSE.

While social media is a great tool for staying in touch with loved ones who live far away, and it can even help people form real, long-term friendships online, like just about everything else, it can be used in negative ways. For instance, more and more parents, teachers, and other caregivers are coming to our team at The Dragonfly House Children’s Advocacy Center because they are concerned that children in their care are facing social media abuse. If you are worried that a child in your life is being bullied or abused via social media, we encourage you to reach out to us to get the resources and support you need to help them.

While social media abuse takes place online, its dynamics are fundamentally the same as other, in-person forms of abuse. For example, it is just as abusive to control who someone can and can’t be friends with on social media as it is to control their in-person friendships. Other ways that social media abuse can manifest are abusive private messages and negative comments on public posts, or as demands to be given the victim’s social media passwords (a violation of privacy). In addition, abusers may use social media to track the victim’s movements and activity in order to exert control over them. If your child is experiencing these or similar issues, they are being abused.

Our team is dedicated to protecting the children in our community here in Davidson County, North Carolina from abuse of any kind. We have a variety of great resources on abuse and learning how to recognize and prevent it, including many resources designed to address newly emerging forms such as social media abuse. If you suspect that a child or teen in your life is experiencing social media abuse, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team.