Why parents must monitor their children’s internet browsing.

The case of Andrew Tate is another striking example of the importance of knowing what our children are browsing on the internet.

35-Year-Old Tate is a self-help personality who revels in misogyny. Tate’s videos had gone viral on popular platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, with content containing abhorrent rants on pro-violence towards women, the illegitimacy of depression, and a slew of other insensitive, uneducated opinions. In particular, Tate has falsely claimed that women bear some responsibility for being sexually assaulted and that they have no "innate responsibility and honour." 

The problem is understandably alarming for parents worried about Tate’s influence on their children.

Mr Tate is an online troll. He styles himself as the ‘King of Toxic Masculinity’ and has an unfortunately large platform.

The objective of an online troll is to share inflammatory posts or content with the intention of provoking viewers and thus evoking a strong negative response with their behaviour intensifying as their audience’s outrage increases.

Unfortunately, such popularity and celebrity-status can be appealing to young people.

My advice for parents to share with their teens is simple: Don’t read the comments.

What worries many parents is the fear that the societal status quo has been disrupted and that, as a result, Tate’s horrific attitudes may corrupt their young and impressionable teens.

However, when we take a closer look at the online articles on Tate, it becomes apparent that millions of people (teens included) who categorically reject Tate's perspective are not represented in the numbers. Parents can help shift the perspective of their teens away from the scary hype by enabling them to realise how few people actually share the same sentiment.

This is an opportunity to empower your children by showing them how to shape their own social media algorithm to display content that supports their wellbeing.

Teach them to swipe past Tate content and report it, so that social platforms will learn your child doesn’t want to see that type of content again. 

In late August, Tate was banned from the full gamut of social networks including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter.

I urge parents to support children to practice respectfully calling out friends who pretend to share Tate’s views or other hate opinions; better yet, ignoring them and decreasing interest in their behaviour. 

Alan Clarke

School Psychologist