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Social Media Readiness Checklist

Sixty honest checkpoints across six areas. Check only what is true of your child today — not what you hope will be true. You'll get a readiness score, a list of what to keep building, and a setup plan for the day you say yes.

What this checklist is — and what it isn't

This is information for your judgement, not a permission algorithm. No score here says yes or no. You are the one who decides, and you are allowed to decide differently from the number.

It also isn't a single door. Social media access comes in stages — closed messaging with people they know, a supervised shared account, a private account with approved followers — and the useful question is usually which stage rather than whether.

And a yes to a phone is not a yes to social media. They are two separate decisions, with different standards, and they can sit years apart.

Who is this for?
These details appear at the top of your printed checklist.

Readiness score

0 of 60 · 0%

Foundational skills still developing

At the moment, social media would ask more of your child than it gives back. This is not a verdict on your child and it is not a comment on your parenting — it is a description of where they are right now, and right now changes.

  • Hold the line on no social accounts for now, with a calm and consistent answer.
  • Build the basics: honesty, handling disappointment, and putting a screen down when asked.
  • Reassess in a year, or sooner if you see a real shift in maturity and honesty.

The eight readiness domains

These are the same eight domains used in the course workbook. The checkpoints above feed into them, so you can see where the readiness actually sits rather than only a single number.

Identity stability

0/6

Still building

They know who they are without a reaction confirming it.

Comparison resilience

0/4

Still building

They can see someone else's good news and put it down.

Social pressure resistance

0/3

Still building

They can decline the thing everyone is doing.

Conflict recovery

0/6

Still building

A fallout stays a fallout instead of becoming a week.

Impulse control in public

0/5

Still building

They can feel it strongly and wait before they send.

Privacy judgement

0/8

Still building

They understand private is a setting, not a promise.

Content discernment

0/8

Still building

They can tell staged from real and notice being steered.

Disclosure under embarrassment

0/10

Still building

They'd tell you the one they're ashamed of.

Parent readiness is scored in its own section below — it belongs to you rather than to your child, which is why it sits outside the eight.

Your answers save automatically on this device as you go.

Emotional Maturity
0/10
Social media rewards impulse and punishes fragility. This is the ground floor.
Character & Honesty
0/10
You cannot supervise what your child is willing to hide from you.
Digital Literacy
0/10
Knowing how the platform makes money is half of knowing how to survive it.
Safety Knowledge
0/10
These are the non-negotiables. A gap here is a reason to wait, not a reason to teach later.
Social Wisdom
0/10
The hardest part of social media is the other kids, not the strangers.
Parent Readiness
0/10
Most social media problems are supervision problems, not kid problems.
Before the first account: setup plan
Whenever you do say yes, do these together. Uncheck anything that doesn't apply — the rest prints as a checklist you can work through side by side.
Our notes
One thought per line. These print in their own section.
A Word Over Our Home
Optional scripture and faith statements. Check any you want printed at the end.

Not a scorecard. The goal is not a family that only consumes the right content — we will all fail that. It is hearts, minds and desires being formed toward Christ, with grace before the rules and after we break them.

"I will not look with approval on anything that is vile." — Psalm 101:3

What it is saying: Psalm 101 is David's pledge of integrity as a king — what he will look at, welcome into his house, and refuse to tolerate among those closest to him. It is about the ordering of a life and a household before God.

For our digital life: The psalm says nothing about social media. But David's question — what am I willingly setting before myself, and what am I letting into this home? — is the right question to bring to a feed.

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is lovely — think about such things." — Philippians 4:8

What it is saying: Paul is not handing an anxious church a content filter. He is telling them where to aim the mind — toward what is true, honorable, just, pure and commendable — as part of a whole life kept in the peace of Christ.

For our digital life: A feed places things before our attention hundreds of times a day. So we ask not only 'is this allowed?' but 'what are these repeated hours cultivating — what are we coming to want, admire, envy and fear?'

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." — Romans 12:2

What it is saying: Romans 12 opens with 'therefore' — it rests on eleven chapters about what God has done in Christ, and appeals to His mercies. The transformation Paul describes comes through a renewed mind, not through better filtering.

For our digital life: Online spaces exert enormous pressure toward conformity. So we care not only about what our child is seeing, but about what is shaping how they think, value, desire and respond.

0 of 60 checked · Foundational skills still developing

This checklist is an educational tool, not a clinical evaluation. Work through it with your spouse before you talk about it with your child.