Negative effects of social media on child mental health
Social media’s impact on children’s mental health is still up for debate. There has been a lack of research, which is largely to blame. Some studies show that children can benefit from small-group interactions online, while others show an increase in anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.
People of all ages are spending a considerable amount of their time on social media. Some use the platforms as a way to stay connected with family and friends, while others use them to network, advertise, and find job opportunities. With social media, young people have found new ways to connect with each other, contributing to inappropriate discussions and bullying, among others.
Social media plays an important role in the lives of many tweens and teens. More than one-third (35 percent) of 13- to 17-year-olds reported using social media sites such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook "almost constantly" in 2022. And while many social media platforms set a minimum age of 13 to sign up, 38 percent of kids ages 8–12 say they have used social media. All this media use can influence young people in a variety of ways. And with a reported rise in depression and anxiety among teens, you may wonder how social media may impact your child's mental health. Research suggests it depends on how they use it. Understanding possible connections between social media and mental health can help you guide your kids towards healthy social media habits.
However, most children use social media for learning or to keep them entertained. We know how smart and active children can be and how they can grab anything seen or heard faster. Social media, however, is not a place for children to be due to the inappropriate content that may even be seen by children if not properly supervised by their parents or guardians. Most parents keep their children busy with gadgets to enable themselves to have time for work and other things without supervising the contents these children are exposed to and how it affects their mental health.
Social media itself can be good and bad at the same time, depending on how the user uses it and what content they are exposed to. However, children cannot tell what kind of content they want to see or do not want to be exposed to because they will want to see new things and not care about their impact on them. There are negative impacts and risks of social media on children, which include phone addiction. Using social media too much can push out other important activities. Examples include being in person with friends and family or getting enough sleep. Children who become social media addicts tend to not have social connections with others in person because they will prefer to be on their phones.
Furthermore, children can have access to inappropriate or harmful content. Children are exposed to violence, racism, and hateful content that contains pornographic material. Pornography is more likely to be stumbled upon by accident than intentionally searched for by children and young people. Upon accessing pornography for the first time, young people reported experiencing a mixture of curiosity, shock, confusion, and disgust.
Not overlooking the fact that social media causes sleep disruption in children. Social media at night might disrupt a child’s sleep. Children between the ages of 5 and 16 should get between 9 and 11 hours of sleep every night. Getting inadequate sleep can have a detrimental effect on their learning at school and increase their risk for depression and anxiety.
Additionally, social media can create utopian views of people’s lives, leading to peer pressure and unhealthy comparisons. Studies have shown that social media is associated with depression. Children who use social media are most likely to be depressed, but no studies have proven the amount of social media that causes depression in children.
The use of social media by children is associated with more than just anxiety and depression. Social media negatively impacts both girls’ and boys’ body images. As social media usage increases, more people monitor their bodies and embrace judgmental attitudes about them. Most kids get exposed to "beauty standards" laid down by social media, which can affect how they view themselves.
Moreover, all these impacts narrow down to the carelessness of parents and their involvement in the way their kids use social media. Children who are monitored learn that whatever information they share online is a permanent marker of their identity. It shouldn’t be posted if they don’t want their parents to see it. It is possible to prevent your children from having years of mental health issues if you speak honestly with them about what they do with apps and what they see.
Children's mental health can be adversely impacted by social media usage. The use of social media by children should not be prohibited, given all its benefits, such as learning and improving social skills, among others. However, children need to be protected from harm by schools, parents, and companies in the digital industry by taking a proactive approach rather than reacting to crises on the spot.