“Put your oxygen mask on  first… before assisting others.”
The phrase we hear on every flight is not merely a safety instruction. It is a principle that applies to life itself. If you are not aware of and capable of protecting yourself first, you will not be able to protect your child.

This is exactly what applies to children’s digital safety. Before asking our children: Who are you following? Who are you talking to? We must first ask ourselves: Do we truly know how to protect ourselves online? And do we have enough awareness to distinguish between people who genuinely deserve our trust and those who are presented to us through misleading images and carefully manufactured personas?
What is often missing from this conversation, however, is that parental awareness does not exist in a vacuum. Our ability to distinguish, judge, and make informed decisions is directly shaped by the media and digital environment we live in. This is where the responsibility of parents intersects with that of media outlets, platforms, and social influencers. When false “expertise” is manufactured, and when “successful role models” and “inspiring figures” are built primarily through aggressive media exposure and paid content, distinguishing between what is authentic and what is fabricated becomes difficult even for informed adults, let alone for children and adolescents.
Recently, there has been growing discussion about how media and social media platforms have increasingly become factories for producing “experts” and “specialists” who may possess little more than a carefully curated public image. In some cases, these figures exploit digital influence and the trust granted to them in order to expand their reach, strengthen their influence, or pursue personal interests. While no one can predict what lies within a person’s intentions, this does not absolve media institutions from their duty to investigate and verify. Checking professional backgrounds and public records is not a luxury. It is the first condition for protecting the public.
This is where the picture becomes clearer. Parents carry the responsibility of raising awareness for themselves and their children, but they also need a media environment that does not deceive them or promote unworthy individuals as trustworthy figures, only to leave families dealing with the consequences alone. When a person repeatedly appears across interviews, paid promotions, celebrity pages, and influencer platforms, it becomes natural for the public, including children and adolescents, to trust them. And when harm occurs, it is neither logical nor fair to shift the blame onto the victim or their family, or to ask a child or adolescent: “Why did you trust them?” as though society itself had not participated in building that trust in the first place.
Adolescents, in particular, require heightened protection. They are more vulnerable to influence and exploitation, especially when the other party holds power, influence, or a publicly trusted image.
For this reason, conversations about parental awareness cannot be separated from conversations about media responsibility. Real reform requires movement on both fronts simultaneously: parents equipped with critical awareness, and media institutions committed to transparency and verification.
This means, first, that media organizations must adopt strict professional standards when hosting any “expert” or “specialist.” The number of followers and online reach should never replace verification of professional qualifications and track records. Here, initiatives such as the “Experts Directory” developed by the Community Media Network offer a practical model to help media institutions select qualified specialists responsibly while also protecting families from misinformation and manipulation.
Second, it means clear disclosure of paid content and sponsored coverage, whether on traditional media platforms or influencer pages. Transparency is not a luxury. It is a right for audiences whose trust and decisions are shaped by what they consume, and it is essential for parents to exercise informed judgment on solid ground rather than manipulated narratives.
At the same time, when the media fulfills its role responsibly, it becomes more than a source of information. It becomes an active partner in public awareness and protection. The responsibility of the media does not end with reporting news or hosting guests. It extends to educating parents and children about digital safety, healthy boundaries, grooming and exploitation tactics, and how to seek help and report abuse. This awareness is no longer optional. It is essential in a world where access to children and adolescents has become easier than ever before.
Ultimately, protecting our children does not begin with monitoring them alone. It begins with our own awareness as adults. But that awareness can only fully exist within a media environment committed to honesty, verification, and accountability, one that chooses exposure over glorification, and awareness over manipulation.
Responsibility is shared. And the first step is recognizing, as parents, that we do not protect our children alone. The battle for awareness is one we either fight together or not truly at all.