Publication author
Alexander Pedan
For the last few years I have been working with children a lot. They are completely different today than my generation was at their age. They are more open, bold, and digitalization plays a significant role in this. Read more in the exclusive blog for Channel 24 website.
It is important not to prohibit, but to teach how to analyze content in social networks
Many parents are skeptical and even critical of social networks and the Internet in general. I believe that this is already an inseparable part of our reality.
Today's children perceive information audiovisually. It is important for them that it is served quickly, dynamically and interestingly. Otherwise, they will refuse to accept it. Therefore, the task of parents is not to prohibit, but to teach children to filter and analyze the content offered to them.
When my daughter grew up to tiktok, we created a common page with her. Despite the fact that at that time I had a lot of experience in television, it was not easy for me to move into the digital sphere. At first, he published only landscapes on his social networks. But I wanted to show my daughter that tiktok, youtube, instagram is not only about “killing time” and having fun, it's also about education and making money.
Today, many specialists are transferring their work to the digital plane and creating, for example, their own educational courses, while teaching and earning. I am no exception, my team and I have an educational YouTube travel “UniverCheck”, in which we talk about Ukrainian universities and help applicants choose their future profession. I also involve Lera in this project and allocate a separate budget for her so that she understands: this is also a job for which she spends her time, efforts, and therefore should receive income.
You don't have to study to be a blogger
It is not right to think that among the digital professions there is only a blogger, but I believe that today this is already a job. To create a high-quality information product, you need copywriters, SMM managers, targetologists, a team of photo and video makers.
All these people should be comprehensively developed, literate, creative, well-read. They must follow the trends, have a good command of the language, perhaps more than one. So usually there are a lot of professionals behind one blog in the network.
Today, our education system does not yet produce specialists of this profile, but I'm not sure that it takes 4 years to study as an SMM manager, given the dynamism of this profession. However, I am not yet so modern as to consider that it is not necessary to enter higher educational institutions at all.
There should always be a fallback in life
You can choose basic philology and get additional knowledge in the courses. So in the future you will be able to work as a copywriter, and a journalist, and a teacher, and a tutor. For, as the events of the last year show, in life you always need to have a fallback option.
For example, I haven’t had a single project on television for a year now, and if at some point I hadn’t switched to the digital sphere and mastered the same profession of a blogger (although I don’t consider myself one), today it would not be easy.
Or you can enroll as an IT specialist, and learn additional skills in SMM courses. This will make you even more needed specialist. Therefore, my recommendation is to get a base and constantly update it with new knowledge.
How can children justify their choice to their parents?
I understand that there may be some resistance from parents. Once I also had a conversation with my mother, who managed to convince me to join the economist. Because the profession of an actor, which I dreamed of 25 years ago, seemed to her frivolous and unpromising.
Do I consider it a mistake that I entered the Khmelnitsky university and lost 4 years? Yes. Am I sorry? No, because as a result I managed to find myself. But my case is rather an exception, so I really want the children to make their choice consciously and develop themselves and the country in the future.
I recommend that children justify their decision: show their parents how much specialists of the profile they plan to choose earn, where they see their future place of work. And parents should not be categorical right away – listen, tell me, send them to professional courses and let the child make this choice on their own.
