3 Things To Teach Your Elderly Loved One About Using Social Media

If you have an elderly loved one that wants to know more about using social media, there are a few things that you should teach them so that they can effectively use these platforms and stay safe while doing so. Because once they know how to use social media the way they want, they can stay in contact with people the world over and make new friends outside of their neighborhood or senior living community.

To help you in doing this, here are three things to teach your elderly loved one about using social media. 

How To Stay Safe Online

The first and arguably most important thing that you can teach your elderly loved one about using social media is how to keep themselves safe and spot people who might be trying to take advantage of them. 

To avoid having their accounts get hacked, encourage your elderly loved ones to use strong passwords and to not share them with anyone. You may also want to have them keep their profiles to private so that strangers can’t glean information about them without their knowledge. And when they are interacting with people within online communities, tell them to be careful about sharing too much information or giving people money if they ask for it. 

Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help

Something else that you should teach your elderly loved one about social media is that it’s okay to have to ask for help sometimes. While it’s common for elderly people not to want to ask for help, especially if they feel like they should already know this information, helping your loved one feel like they can come to you with questions will help them to better learn how to use social media on their own and help them avoid issues in the future.

Along with seeking out your advice, you can also teach them how to use things like chat services or online forums to look up the answers to their own questions. 

Tips For Engaging With Others

While social media can be a great way for all people to meet others and stay in contact with friends or family members, it can also be a place with a lot of negativity, anger, and darkness where people try to bring others down. 

To help your elderly loved one about getting into online skirmishes with others, try to help them learn how to safely engage with others, especially those that they have met in online communities that are meant to help people feel less lonely. Share with them what kinds of things online trolls will say to others and how to take things with a grain of salt while also trying to be a light to others rather than a troll themselves.

If you want to help your elderly loved one learn how to use social media as you do, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you with this.