Writing an Essay Assignment Impact of social media on Young Children Submitted to: Dr. Islam Al Sawy Written By: Kareem Adel BY: KAREEM ADEL TO: DR. ISLAM ALSAWY 1 Book Requirements BY: KAREEM ADEL TO: DR. ISLAM ALSAWY 2 Impact of social media on Young Children Introduction In this essay, we will explore the impact of the social media on young children, we will also navigate both sides “advantages and disadvantages” of the social media, we will try to shed some light on how we could make this experience beneficial to our children and how we could eliminate the downside of it. Especially, that social media becomes a fast-growing fact day by day and it invaded our lives as a common daily activity of children and adults at each single home. What is social media? Any Web site that allows social interaction is considered a social media site, including social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter; gaming sites and virtual worlds such as Club Penguin, Second Life, and the Sims; video sites such as YouTube; and blogs. Most social media apps require users to be at least 13 years old. But in a recent poll [1], parents shared that 50% of children 10 to 12 years old and 33% of children 7 to 9 years old use social media apps. “Social media makes it easy to compare oneself to another, most people put on social media what they want you to see. And by using social media, all of us have the ability to access endless information anytime we want to and that can be very hard for kids.” says Dr. Eshleman. While experts are just beginning to understand social media’s impact on children, one study [2] shows that children younger than 11 years old who use Instagram and Snapchat are more likely to have problematic digital behaviors like having online-only friends and visiting sites that parents would most likely disapprove. BY: KAREEM ADEL TO: DR. ISLAM ALSAWY 3 That same study says limiting how much time a child spends on social media may reduce some of the negative effects of using social media at such an early age. In addition to problematic digital behaviors, there may be changes in children’s daily behavior at home such as: • • • Increased irritability. Increased anxiety [3]. Lack of self-esteem [4]. We will discuss this part more in the disadvantages section. “If kids are being asked to get off social media and do their homework, then parents might see increased periods of irritability or frustration directed towards parents, they’re being asked to do something they don’t want to do and stop doing something they enjoy.” says Dr. Eshleman. Advantages Thanks to the social media which made our life more interactive and less boring, it’s significantly created opportunities for community engagement through raising money for charity and volunteering for local events, including political and family events. It has also played a key role in the enhancement of individual and collective creativity through development and sharing of artistic, talents and various innovative activities. Social media has offered a great opportunity for growth of ideas from the creation of blogs, podcasts, videos, gaming sites and many other things. BY: KAREEM ADEL TO: DR. ISLAM ALSAWY 4 On the personal level, it has expanded one's online connections through shared interests to include others from more diverse backgrounds (such communication is an important step for all adolescents and affords the opportunity for respect, tolerance, and increased discourse about personal and global issues) Social media allowed accessing health information across global sectors and organizations, it offered a chance to share experience and developed growth opportunities for learning and building skills. Disadvantages While we introduced the tremendous advantages of social media, we also need to crystalize the disadvantages of social media to be vigilant to the issues and facts that we need to deal with. Researchers have proposed a new phenomenon called “Facebook depression,” defined as depression that develops when preteens and teens spend a great deal of time on social media sites, such as Facebook, and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression [5]. The intensity of the online world is thought to be a factor that may trigger depression in some adolescents. Social media use can also negatively affect children, distracting them, disrupting their sleep, and exposing them to bullying, rumor spreading, unrealistic views of other people's lives and peer pressure. The risks might be related to how much social media children and teens use. A 2019 study of more than 6,500 12- to 15-year-olds in the U.S. found that those who spent more than three hours a day using social media might be at heightened risk for mental health problems. Another 2019 study of more than 12,000 13- to 16-year-olds in England found BY: KAREEM ADEL TO: DR. ISLAM ALSAWY 5 that using social media more than three times a day predicted poor mental health and well-being in teens. Other studies also have observed links between high levels of social media use and depression or anxiety symptoms. A 2016 study of more than 450 teens found that greater social media use, nighttime social media use and emotional investment in social media — such as feeling upset when prevented from logging on — were each linked with worse sleep quality and higher levels of anxiety and depression. How could we protect our children In order to make the best use of social media and eliminate its risk or impact on our children, there’re various notes and tricks we could follow to get this technology landing safely on our lives. For ex: We can set reasonable limits (screen time) [6], by speaking with our children about how to avoid letting social media interfere with his or her activities, sleep, meals, or homework. Encourage a bedtime routine that avoids electronic media use. We can also lead by example, meaning that; we talk about our own social media habits. Ask your children how he or she is using social media and how it makes him or her feel. Remind them always that social media is full of unrealistic images. Lastly, we can monitor your children’ accounts. And let them know that you'll be regularly checking his or her social media accounts, to assure their safety and wellbeing. BY: KAREEM ADEL TO: DR. ISLAM ALSAWY 6 Conclusion Social media can have a positive effect on our children like helping them learn how to communicate with others, navigate relationships and how to manage somebody who isn’t being kind to them. So, no social media at all might not be the best (or realistic) solution for your kids. But if you decide to let your children use social media, we need to consider close monitoring, close contact, talking to them regularly and become a good model of a social media users that they can be stimulated to follow our model. Dr. Eshleman says practicing safe and healthy social media behaviors in front of your child can go a long way. “It’s much harder for kids to understand the potential dangers or risks of social media when parents engage in the same behaviors themselves.” she says. References [1] https://mottpoll.org/reports/sharing-too-soon-children-and-socialmedia-apps [2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S07475632210 03769 [3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32788143/ [4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4183915/ [5] www.trendhunter.com/trends/depression-from-facebook BY: KAREEM ADEL TO: DR. ISLAM ALSAWY 7 [6] https://health.clevelandclinic.org/signs-you-need-to-take-a-breakfrom-social-media/ Other references: https://www.npr.org/2016/08/09/489284038/researchers-studyeffects-of-social-media-on-young-minds http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/the-teenage-brain-on-social-media https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/child-brain-developmentand-social-media/ http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0069 841 http://parenting.firstcry.com/articles/impact-of-social-media-onchildren/ http://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Femo0000403 http://www.truhealthonline.com/12-negative-effects-social-mediachildren-teenagers/ https://www.adamsbrowncpa.com/blog/negative-effects-of-socialmedia-on-young-minds/ BY: KAREEM ADEL TO: DR. ISLAM ALSAWY 8
