From the article “When is a child Instagram ready?” and the youtube video “Teens explain the rules of social media” I now have a better understanding of the question, the first resource gives us the perspective of teenagers. The rules that they have noticed while being on social media, “People are just gonna get annoyed with your account on social, I never posted millions of selfies in one day.” This was a common topic in the video, something every teen had talked about. This was a rule that all the teenagers knew about, you were not allowed to post that frequently as it would annoy others. Teenagers could have had this perspective as they have a better understanding of how people will react, they are more aware of others. Not only that, but they are aware that others will be judging you, therefore they will take into more consideration the things that they post. The idea of blending in with the crowd is something important as a teenager as standing out could make you a target. This understanding gives them different rules for social media as opposed to a nine year old who has just started.

A parent who was testing out what their child would do with their account found that “He put up a video of himself doing a front flip wearing only his boxer shorts, followed back every single user who followed him, and went “live” in a friend’s basement without the parents knowing.” This is a big contrast compared to the rules that the teenagers had. The nine year old had been more free with his account, not worrying about how others will view him therefore doing what he wanted with his account. Moreover, instead of not worrying about how others will view him, perhaps the nine year old was not yet aware of the result in doing those things. He has not been exposed to these things yet and does not have an understanding on the subject. Compared to the teenagers that made it clear not to post often, the nine year old did not follow that social media “rule.” The parent had found the trouble spots of their nine year old “by the end of the weekend, I had learned the trouble spots — his frequent posts, inappropriate wardrobe choice and when to get adults’ permission among them.” This would be a result of how young he still is, unlike the teenagers who have already understood what is appropriate and inappropriate, the child has not been taught these things.

The difference with age is that as you get older, you have a better understanding of what is appropriate, knowing the consequences of certain actions. A young child who has just gotten his first account would not have understood that yet, you are more exposed to things as you get older. Not only that but as a young child, what people think of you is not as important as when you are a teenager. These issues can be solved with discussion, discussing with your child the rules when getting an account, what will be appropriate and what is not. Answering this question will be different depending on your age. For that reason, discussion is beneficial when answering this question. By discussing, you will have a wider view, have an open mind and learn new ideas. By discussing it with people that vary in age, you will understand what that age thinks the rules are, and their reason behind it. Discussing it with people of the same age is still useful, their idea of what the rules of social media are could still be different. Finding out the reason why that is their opinion will give you a deeper understanding to the question and have a better response.

My final answer is: Rules for social media do change as you age, as you get older you will be exposed to different things, this gives you a better understanding of what is appropriate for social media.