Children and Social Media

When you think about today’s society, it is impossible to not think about social media. With the rise of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many other online social venues, technology has become a staple of everyday life. The use of social media is completely normal in today’s generations and its use will, most likely, continue to thrive in the coming generations.

However, it has come to my attention that children and adolescents are also adapting to and using social media. At first, this fact came as a surprise but upon further research, I found that social media use among children and adolescents is on the rise.

According to The Content Factory, over 5 million Facebook users are below the age of ten. Despite the age limitations enacted by Facebook, parents all over the globe allow their young children create and use social media accounts.

But Facebook isn’t the only account that children are signed up for. According to GuardChild, 60% of kids have an account on one or more social media outlets.

Is the use of social media harmful to children?

There is a general consensus that the increase use of technology is affecting the social behaviors of children. In various online articles, it is stated that children are more subjected to cyber bullying and anti social behavior because of the increased time spent online.

However, according to The Huffington Post, social media use is effective in 21^st century learning. Parents and educators can use the technology to help spread information. The use of social media is becoming a new teaching technique that is proving to be effective.

In addition to using social media as an educational tool, it also helps children and adolescents build stronger relationships with families, sports teams and friends.

The bottom line is that children are using social media. The world is digitalizing and we need to adapt to its changes by adopting new parenting and teaching styles. If used in moderation, children can benefit immensely from social media. But finding the middle ground between overexposure and underexposure to social media sites is proving to be tricky.