First published in Red Tri If she’s like most growing girls, she’s begging you for a phone and she feels ready to jump into social media. If you are like most parents, you are not ready (yet). The New York Times tells us that students are spending over eight hours each day on their phones, mostly scrolling and swiping through social media, creating videos on Tik Tok, watching You Tube Videos, and of course chatting on Snapchat. Girls tell me all the time how much they love social media – feeling they belong to the “phone club”, the chance to feel connected and included amongst peers, the ideas that inspire them, and the hours of pure entertainment. Yet, many of them admit they also loathe social media – it can feel like pressure to keep up and post “perfectly”, to see polished pictures and not only feel jealous after a quick comparison, but also “not good enough”, to obsess over likes, comments, and number of followers, and of course, the worry about being left out at best and harassed or bullied at worst. After speaking to girls and so many parents, here are six steps you can take, starting today, to…...