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Nowadays, children are heavy users of social media compared to the previous generations. In the US, 98 percent of children from an age of 0 to 8 years have access to Internet-connected devices in their household and spend at least 2 hours a day (or more) on digital media and screens. As a result of the current pandemic, this amount has increased significantly due to the precautions to flatten the infection curve. Families and children now heavily depend on their digital technologies for online learning and work meetings, e.g. Zoom, FaceTime, and Microsoft Teams. (Vanderloo et al., 2020)
In the UK, the children’s digital rights charity proposed a code to well-known platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, to complain about their design tricks and nudging strategies. Children are unconsciously forced to share their location details and receive personal advertisement due to data-driven features. The algorithmic recommendation systems leading to harmful online materials on these platforms, turn out to provoke eating disorders, self-harm, suicide, and inappropriate actions online. (Murgia, 2021) A research conducted by Kelly et al. (2018) shows that symptoms of depression are shown in children using social media heavily compared to non-users (Figure 1).
Figure 1 shows the urgency of social media use to be reduced amongst children, but also the prevention measurements that social media platforms should adopt. While various platforms implemented the aforementioned UK code on children’s digital rights, problems still occur. For example, Apple does not prevent users that are below the age restriction of 18 to download adult-only applications. This is due to the fact that no prove is needed of a parental consent. Leading to young children to get access to information that could be harmful. (Twenge, et al., 2021)
What is your opinion upon the information that is widely accessible on the internet? And the fact that algorithms align the information you see based on your preferences that were unconsciously generated? Does the information that you consume have an influence on your mental health?
References:
Murgia, M. (2021, 8 oktober). Dozens of leading apps accused of putting children in danger. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/bed30c91-03b2-4508-b708-8073b5ec8462
Kelly, Y., Zilanawala, A., Booker, C. & Sacker, A. Social media use and adolescent mental health: fndings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. EClinicalMedicine 6, 59–68 (2018).
Twenge, J. M., Haidt, J., Joiner, T. E., & Campbell, W. K. (2020). Underestimating digital media harm. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(4), 346-348.
Hi Marielle, your blog bring up an important topic which should be addressed. I believe social media comes with both benefits and risks for children. Social media can be a big part of social and creative part of life. Children and teenagers use social media to have fun, share interests and a lot of times it is a key part of how they develop and maintain friendships, especially during the pandemic when there was little social interaction. It is also important for good mental health to stay connected. Apart from that, social media can be used to share educational content both informally and formally in school and they can potentially explore and learn about new topics. It is also a great way to stay connected with extended family and become part of online communities. However, as you mentioned, social media comes with risks such as being exposed to inappropriate content, cyberbullying, too much targeted advertising and potential data breaches or sharing personal information with strangers which can bring other dangers. I don’t think it is possible to ban children from social media, as it is also very difficult to have websites verify the age of the user, as long as they input an older birth year. Instead, children should be educated on this topic and be aware of the dangers of social media to prevent these risks and increase internet safety.