The tragic school shootings last week, in Parkland, FL, is a call to action on so many levels that we, as a country, need to address. However, this is also a call to action that we, as parents, can address immediately and with our own children. We need to be more involved in our children’s digital media lives!

Schools and parents are grappling with what messages to communicate to children as we process these horrific events. But first we need to understand the sources of the messages our children are receiving, what video footage they are seeing, and most importantly, how they are processing all this content.

It is inarguable that children see information about this event and feel a large number of emotions ranging from sadness to depression to anxiety. We as parents need to be our children’s first responders to these emotions.

According an to article by Marketing Charts, Common Sense Media reports 49% of teens say they get their news from social media…places like Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube. There certainly are questions of the quality of the news. However, it is crucial  parents monitor the content and the reaction of their children to these events and the digital media that they follow. (Did you realize that the Discover function of Snapchat is one of the most popular ways that teens get their information on current events?)

When I was a child, I watched coverage of world events on a television, in a living room, with family members. My parents could sensor or filter what I heard or how much information I watched about the event. They could see how I reacted to the information. How did I process this in my fragile tween and teen brain? Could I handle it? Did I need to talk about it?

Fast forward to today. Children watch coverage and learn details, on a smartphone, in a bedroom, alone. They see graphic videos and read about teachers hiding with students in a closet, while a shooter is on the loose in a school. They process their emotions of fear, anxiety and sadness alone and without conversation with family, thus missing out on reassurance and comfort. We, as our children’s parents, need to do all we can to help them make, if even possible, any sense of these situations. We need to create dialog about what they should do if they see any type of messages on social media alluding to the possibility of such events.

While there are numerous calls to action that we as a country need to address, there is also a call to action that we as parents need to address. We need to find out what our children are doing with their devices. We need to understand the digital content they are consuming. And finally, we need to explore their feelings as it relates to technology and the events of the world we live in. We need to be involved in their online lives!