Talking With Kids About Advertising with Guest Suzanne Tomlinson

<p>These 3 tips can help your child see ads through a critical lens:</p><p>1. Explain advertising, in general, using examples your child encounters the most, whether that’s TV commercials or pop-up ads in their favorite app. Advertisers want us to buy their stuff, so they try different methods to make us want what they’re selling. Advertisers track the digital places we visit online to show us things they know we’re interested in.</p><p>2. Teach your child how to look for words in posts and images like “ad”, “sponsored content”, “hide”, or even a small X in a corner. Demonstrate how to properly close a pop-up or video ad by clicking or tapping close or on the X. These types of ads can be distracting, at the very least, to both kids and adults.</p><p>3. Sometimes ads can take a viewer to an unsafe website. Use an analogy like “stranger danger” to help your kids understand they don’t have to click on or follow something just because it’s there, even if it looks nice.</p><p>Read more on our blog, <a href="https://smartsocial.com/teaching-kids-advertising " target="_blank">Teaching Kids About Online Advertising: 12 Experts Share Advice</a>.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Learn from Smart Social's resources: </strong></p><ul><li>Join our free newsletter for parents and educators: <a href="https://smartsocial.com/newsletter/">https://smartsocial.com/newsletter/</a></li><li>Register for a free online Parent Night to learn the hidden safety features on popular apps: <a href="https://smartsocial.com/social-media-webinar/">https://smartsocial.com/social-media-webinar/</a></li><li>Become a Smart Social VIP (Very Informed Parents) Member and unlock 30+ workshops (learn online safety and how to Shine Online™): <a href="https://learn.smartsocial.com/">https://learn.smartsocial.com/</a></li><li>Download the free Smart Social app: <a href="https://smartsocial.com/app">https://smartsocial.com/app</a></li><li>Learn the top 100 popular teen apps: <a href="https://smartsocial.com/app-guide-parents-teachers/">https://smartsocial.com/app-guide