4 Tips for Making Kids Ad Savvy

Can you identify the ad and the affiliate link on this page? Have you ever noticed an ad before, during, or after an online video? Is that favorite YouTuber’s product recommendation sponsored?

Help kids learn to decode the messages in online, print, and television advertising with help from Common Sense Media. They’ve shared four tips for defending against sneaky ad tricks, as well as simply understanding what ads are and why they exist:

1. Help identify the ads.
2. Be careful where you click.
3. Expose the tricks of the trade.
4. Resist peer pressure.

Co-viewing content on TKSST, YouTube, television, apps, video games, and other media sources is a great way to introduce and discuss these issues, helping kids become more ad savvy at any age. Common Sense Media also has Parents’ Guides for YouTube and YouTube Kids.

Plus, check out their free Digital Citizenship curriculum, which includes both short and long-form lessons for grades K through 12.

We also recommend the book The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media and Real Life, “an evidence-based, don’t-panic guide to what to do about kids and screens” by Anya Kamenetz. There are also smart online summaries at NPR Life Kit’s Parenting: Screen Time And Your Family.

Then watch these videos next: BBC Own It animations for digital wellbeing, how to spot a misleading graph, and how to spot a pyramid scheme.