Piper Rockelle, 14, criticized for her presence on social media. Experts warn parents about digital freedom.

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A 14-year-old social media influencer is in the midst of controversy after Pink accused her family of exploiting her for likes on Instagram.

Piper Rockelle, who has 4.8 million Instagram followers and 8.3 million YouTube subscribers, posts photos of herself on social media in crop tops and bikinis.

How many kids like Piper Rockelle are being exploited by their parents? ”Pink tweeted last week. [14] a year of posing in a bikini while her MOTHER takes the picture?!?! ‘”

Rockelles’ Instagram account says it is a family run account.

Rockelles’ mother, Tiffany Rockelle, told Today Parents that she is just trying to support her daughter’s dreams. Ever since Piper was a child, she enjoys playing very much and she always had a dream, she said. As long as Piper wants to do this and it’s her passion, I’m here for her to follow this dream and protect her.

A lot of people agreed with Pink in the comments. The problem is the tone of the photos. Piper is only 14 years old. The poses in the photos are suggestive and send a very bad message, one person wrote. Raw. 13 or 14 doesn’t matter, it’s too young, said another.

The Rockelle family did not respond to Yahoo Lifes’ request for comment.

The controversy surrounding Piper raises a larger question about what is and isn’t considered OK when it comes to social media for teens and tweens. Experts say it is difficult to determine the exact age at which it is acceptable for each child to use social media, but they say parents need to be extremely careful.

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It depends on the child and their level of maturity, Mayra Mendez, a licensed psychotherapist at Providence Saint John’s Child and Family Development Center in Santa Monica, California, told Yahoo Life. However, most discussions in the research are that children under the age of 13 should not be turned on. Once they’re 16, 17, or 18, it’s a whole different story. Note: A 2018 Pew Research study found that 72% of 13-17 year olds use Instagram, and 45% say they are almost constantly online.

The problem with letting young teens use and post on social media is that they may not understand the ramifications of what they’re posting, Dr. Lisa Lowery, chief of medicine at adolescence at the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. When talking about it with patients and parents, I ask them to be very careful, she says. However, she admits, the hard part is talking to parents of the right age. It really depends on the maturity of the teenager.

Lowery says she repeatedly talks to patients about the importance of thinking before posting. I really try to advise all of my parents and teens that what you post is permanent, she says. There are also predators. They have to be very careful.

Clinical psychologist John Mayer, author of Family Fit: Find Your Balance in Life, tells Yahoo Life that certain cognitive skills need to be developed before a child takes the lead in social media. Younger teens typically lack the social cognitive development to deal with the powerful social interaction on social media, like criticism, negativity, manipulation and entanglement, he says. This is why Mayer recommends that 13 to 15 year olds be more strongly guided and supervised by parents than their older peers.

It might look different for every family, but some parents may want to use an app like Websafety that alerts them when their child posts to social media or shares owner privileges so they can remove a post if they feel it is inappropriate. said Mayer.

At a minimum, Lowery says parents should be aware of what’s going on on their child’s account – know what they’re posting on social media.

Mendez recommends that parents set expectations and limits before their child is allowed on social media. There has to be some very hard and fast communication that sets up a plan and expectations, as well as what the surveillance would look like, she says. Projects need to be discussed openly and together, parents and teens need to develop a way to do it. Mendez stresses that parents should not keep their children’s surveillance a secret. Don’t hide what you’re doing or spy on them, she said. It is a setup for disaster in the relationship between the teenager and the parent.

Lowery also suggests sharing this advice with your child: if you would be too embarrassed for your grandma to see it, it shouldn’t be on social media.

As the kids get older, Mayer says it’s OK to give them more freedom as long as they’ve shown they can handle it. You add a little bit of freedom to a teenager’s life, wait and see if they can handle it, and then you can add more small increments, he says. If they show that they cannot handle this freedom, it is taken away until they are mature enough to handle it again.

And, if your kid says he wants to be a social media influencer, Mayer recommends supporting him. I still support teens’ dreams of being what they aspire to, but not at the expense of those other aspects of a balanced life, he says. My comment to teens when they bring up things like being a social media influencer, rock star, or professional athlete is that someone has to do it, and, I add, most of those people do. you admire were like you at your age. Parents don’t shatter dreams.

But, if you determine that your kid isn’t ready for social media, Lowery says that’s more than okay. I’ve seen bullying, kids kicked out of school and fights on social media, she says. They don’t need to be on social media.

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