The Impact of Social Media on Children

I am researching how social media has the biggest impact on youth. The youth generation with social media and being on their phones is becoming younger and younger. This negatively affects children's mental, physical, and social development. Kids nowadays would rather be on their phones and checking social media than being a kid. The digital world is really affecting the minds of our youth too much and too young.

I have found some significant themes associated with the impact of social media on the youth which is affecting their mental, physical, and social development. A theme that is affecting children's mental health is linked to an increase in mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, and suicidality. Another theme that affected children's physical development from social media is lacking physical activity and also losing sleep. The last theme that social media affected children's social development was isolation and limiting physical activities due to technology use.

I am researching this topic because I have a really little sister and she is always on her phone not living the childhood as she should be. I would say she is on her phone for at least 7 hours a day and she is 8 years old. So I actually wanted to see how social media and being on the phone all-day will affect her. Social media. has even affected me but I am older and more educated to deal with issues. I am scared for her generation growing up on social media.

• Should children have social media?
• How does social media affect children's development and behavior? -mental, physical, social
• Does social media affect children in different places of the world?

This source talked about the more negative than positive effects of being on social media. While it does have some benefits, it can also influence the youth in unhealthy ways. They added action on how to cope with social media called “How can parents help kids be smart about social media.” This section was about how parents always want the best for their children, while also protecting them from the worst. The author’s main point in this article was to show how social media can have positive effects for the youth but also some negative effects with some solutions for dealing with social media. A positive effect included learning technology skills, communication skills, and friendships. But the negative effects almost outweighed these positive effects because you can learn these skills not being on social media. Some negatives that this article included were addiction, bullying, impacting their self-image and a lot more negative effects come from social media.

This source provided a lot of good tips on how to help kids on social media. I think this source helped me answer my research because it gave the reader positive and negative effects for the parents to see if they want their kid on social media. I learned that it is clear to see that both positives and negatives effects come with social media, but the negatives seem to outweigh the positives, and it’s up to the parent if they want to deal with all these negative effects.

-, Mrunal, et al. “Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media on Children.” FirstCry Parenting, 16 Jan. 2020, parenting.firstcry.com/articles/impact-of-social-media-on-children/.

This source talked about how social media affects children’s mental health. They had lots of points that social media can actually lead to stress, anxiety, and depression. The author’s point was to discuss how serious social media can affect children’s mental health. But she was saying taking breaks and limiting your time has helped her a lot.

I think this source really helped my research by answering the questions and talking about how impactful social media can be to your mental health. It concluded that the earlier teens start using social media, the greater impact the platforms have on mental health. I learned that one of the best ways for helping your children or your mental health is monitoring their behavior or yours to see how their use impacts them, and how to act as a result.

McLean Hospital. “The Social Dilemma: Social Media and Your Mental Health.” Here's How Social Media Affects Your Mental Health | McLean Hospital, McLean Hospital, 10 Feb. 2021, www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/it-or-not-social-medias-affecting-your-mental-health.

This source was about the effects of social media on teens. I wanted a source to show social media can keep affecting you when you are older too. It showed that as early as age 11, parents started to notice physical, developmental, emotional, and social changes in their pre-teens from social media. The author’s point is to show all the negative effects so we can help monitor and fix the problem now. 

From reading this article, I would say it is interesting to see that teens are still affected and it all starts at a young age and doesn’t seem to go away. This article helped my research because it shows that if we do not set good standards for children using social media then it will set problems up for teens later. I learned a lot from this article, but the most interesting thing was how teen’s face-to-face interactions have decreased and some teens found it really difficult.

“Effects of Social Media Use on Teenagers.” 5210, 5210.psu.edu/effects-of-social-media-useonteenagers/#:~:text=These%20negative%20interactions%20can%20impact,with%20youth%20social%20media%20use.

This article is about how social media is linked to mental illness. It talks about how addicting social media is and how unhappy it can make you. The author’s main point is to talk about the risk social media holds and how it influences you every day.

This source supports my research because of all the mental effects it creates on a child’s development. I learned in this article that social media is not the answer for children at least. They conducted two studies to show. The first study was about a survey for 12-14-year-olds by the Royal Society for Public Health, it asked questions about Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. They reported that these social networks gave them extra scope for self-expression and community-building but also aid that the platforms exacerbated anxiety and depression, deprived them of sleep, exposed them to bullying, and created worries about their body image and “FOMO.” The study second (image 9) was a survey that tracked a group of 5,208 Americans between 2013 and 2015 asking if they are happy. It found that an increase in Facebook activity was associated with a future decrease in reported mental health.

“How Heavy Use of Social Media Is Linked to Mental Illness.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/05/18/how-heavy-use-of-social-media-is-linked-to-mental-illness. 

This source is about how children are influenced by the media they learn by observing, imitating, and making behaviors their own. usually from the older generations. This article talked about history a lot and how social media started. The author’s point was to show the negative effects of social media and to inform the parents about it. Parents can moderate the negative influences as well as increase the positive effects of media in the lives of their children.

This source goes well with my research because it shows how social media affects children’s behaviors. I learned that research studies have identified the following domains of influence in which media content has been shown to have negative effects on children: violence and aggressive behavior, sexual content, body image and self-esteem, and physical health and school performance. Parents really need to monitor children’s social media.

“Influence on Children Media - History of Media for Children, General Considerations, Studies of Media Influence, Domains of Influence, Recommendations.” StateUniversity.com, education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2212/Media-Influence-on-Children.html. 

This source really touches on the cyberbullying aspect of social media.  Social media’s worst outcome is cyberbullying and it is the most common outcome. The author’s point of this article is to inform how often people using social media get bullied and it is not okay by conducting a study. 

This source contributes to the research because it is showing the kids that get bullied online and it is common so should your kids have social media?  I learned that with his findings there is a strong correlation of if you have social media you are connected to cyberbullying. He also talked about how parent style has become less strict and that might be a reason cyber bullying is happening so often. But from this article, I  learned if you have social media there is a very high chance you can get bullied.  

Tzani-Pepelasi, Calli, et al. “Cyber-Bullying and Children’s Unmonitored Media Violence Exposure.” Assessment & Development Matters, vol. 9, no. 4, Winter 2017, pp. 2–6. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=126358651&site=ehost-live.

This source shows how many people really use social media. More than half the people in the world use social media, that’s 3.96 billion people. The author’s point of this article to almost showing how much social media is taking over. He gives us all this data and information to really open our eyes. 

This source contributes to my research in many ways and shows how social media is spreading everywhere in the world and more and more children are getting social media. These maps show the percentages of social media uses throughout the world. Nearly 70 percent of the total population in Northern America uses social media today, compared to just 7 percent in Middle Africa. But it is spreading so fast I bet that number will go up. I learned that it varies by gender too which shows on the second map. There are almost 1.2 men for every woman using social media around the world today.

Nazir, Mobbie, and Hannah Currey. “More than Half of the People on Earth Now Use Social Media.” We Are Social, 21 July 2020, wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media. 

After conducting my research I have learned that the effects of social media on children can be varied, but the negative largely outweigh the positive effects. I have learned that children's developing brains are more affected by social media and the lasting consequences on their brains. Some negative effects from social media were violence and aggressive behavior, sexual content, body image and self-esteem, and physical health and school performance. One solution is having the parents or caregivers monitor children’s social media and watching their behaviors too.

From what we learned in class the Human-Environment interaction has related to this topic well because the environment the children are surrounded today is with technology everywhere. It is almost a requirement to have social media for children today. The environment of social media creates a negative experience for children. Another topic it relates to from what we learned in class is identity. Your social media almost creates your identity. Seeing other people post children are influenced by the media they learn by observing, imitating, and making behaviors their own to fit into society.

With social media, everyone is trying to post the best things and to be a trendsetter. Seeing those posts are different all around the human planet. Social media looks different from where you live. You can also connect and see what's happening around the world from social media. We live in a constantly evolving world and today social media is a huge part of most people's lives. The environment that children live in today is heavily affected by the digital world we live in and that is the world they will be growing up in so understanding the dangers involved will be essential for their health moving forward.