While there are beneficial parts of social media, parents should be aware of what their children are doing online. Social media is a place for some people to escape reality, but there are some people who abuse the fact that they can get away with a lot of things without a trace or a face to put with the action. For example, on social media there are people who portray a false identity witch is known as “catfishing.” As a matter of fact there is a television show on MTV called Catfish that documents stories of people who have been pursued online by a person claiming to be someone they are not. This is why when naïve children have access to the world of social media they may be easily persuaded and manipulated by online personalities. When you are young there is a lot of things that you think you know about social media but you really know nothing at all about what you are getting yourself into. It is very risky for any child to have a social media account for the simple fact that children tend to believe anything on the Internet. Pre-teens and young teenagers are at the most risk because there are social predators that target this specific age group. Studies show that predator attacks are more likely to happen to young girls but there are cases of this happening to boys as well. Children need to be educated before being let into the cruel world of social media. Some people use social media as a coping method to make themselves feel better by tearing someone else down which can put a damper on someone’s self confidence and ultimately lead to depression and anxiety. These are reasons why children should be of a certain age to have social media accounts, social media makes children dependent on immediate response and gratification and children with social media are more likely to become depressed or develop anxiety and may even have suicidal thoughts.
“More than half of children use social media by the age of 10” (Reporter). According to a daily mail reporter 43 percent of children on social media have sent a stranger a message by the age of 12, which can lead to a terrible outcome if their trust is up in the hands of the wrong person. Although 10 years of age is far too young to have a social media account there are many children that do have a social media account or accounts. This is why awareness and education is so very important before allowing a child to be exposed to social networking. Most parents with children that have access to any social media platform are more worried about the people their children may or may not come in contact with and content that their child is being exposed to. When in reality both of these topics are equally as important and both need to be monitored closely. Even though there are age restrictions on some social media cites 40 percent of adolescents said that they ignored the age limit that and selected a false birth date that. When this age limit is bypassed by say a 10 year old there is a greater risk of online predators because the user of the account is stating that he or she is older than their real age. The average age you have to be to signup for a social media account is 15 to 16 years of age depending on the cite. When a 10 year old posing as a 15 or 16 year old could be a potential danger. Portraying an older age has the potential to attract older men and women because a lot of social media cites do display your birth date for anyone who looks at your account. Studies show that when children were polled 21 percent of the group from the age of 11 and up had posted something negative or derogatory on at least one of the many social media platforms that they have access to if not all. Dr. Richard Woolfson, child psychologist and Knowthenet spokesman, said: “The Internet offers wonderful experiences for growing and inquisitive young minds. Yet, as social media has removed the barriers between a young person's public and private self, children can become vulnerable, and compulsive online sharing can lead to danger.”
Always having someone to talk to at your fingertips can be a great thing as well as a bad thing because when the time comes that there is not someone there in a split second that can be a problem for some children. When a child becomes dependent on social media to fill their human interaction for the day this can be really dangerous. When a child talks to someone through a screen all of the time their social skills go out the window. When you get older jobs are inevitable and if you cannot carry a conversation then this is a problem. It is proven that children with social anxiety turn to the Internet for people to talk to. The Internet causes most social anxiety. These “friends” that they will meet are a great way to get things off of your chest but talking to a guardian or a trusted adult in this situation would be a much safer and healthier option. Parents or guardians need to pay attention to their young ones and know if they need someone to confide in. Most of the time a child will be hesitant to confide in their parents because they do not want to get in trouble. So, setting up a one on one session with a counselor or therapist is a great option to build social skills instead of always confiding in faceless others on the Internet for support.
Social media is one of the leading causes of depression and anxiety among teens and pre-teens. While a lot of this depression and anxiety is caused by the comparison of oneself to others there are cyber bullies in this world that can cause more emotional damage than you ever thought possible. Starting with comparison and body image. Children being exposed to how young men and women are “supposed” to look by societies standards is very harmful to their self-esteem. When a young girl is exposed to models with perfect figure that never have any flaws and seem to be totally perfect in every way can be harmful to how the mind perceives women. Putting out on the Internet that all people have to look a certain way to be seen at as beautiful has such a powerful impact on a child. When young boys are exposed the images of men with perfect muscles and skin is also very harmful to the way that a young man sees himself later on in life. When all that someone has ever been exposed to is perfection of looks it is very hard to break the way one thinks about body image. Even though realistically we know that no one is perfect as humans we will always compare ourselves to others.
When there is a platform such as social media where you can essentially be whoever you want to be at any given moment can be a big issue. There are a lot of misleading profiles on social media for the purpose of cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is when someone either comments rude things on someone’s social media account degrading him or her. There are even entire accounts that are run by anonymous beings that you can submit horrible things to the account and they will post it and no one will know whom the message came from. Acts of facelessness are among the most dangerous cyber bullying. When you do not know where the sources are coming from it is very hard to stop. If someone is using the anonymous method of cyber bullying they usually never get caught if they do not confess to the act unless the police are involved. When people go about the profile-to-profile tactic it is easier but not easy to get a cyber bully to stop what they are doing. When a child is being mentally abused online they are likely to think that they are worth nothing at all. Witch can lead to suicidal thought or they could even follow though with an act that could have been prevented.
Suicide is the worst possible thing that can come out of a child being bullied online. When a child is acting different their guardian should notice. Some of the warning signs are less food intake, not as talkative and energetic and also they will become worried all of the time. Children who do not say anything about their suicide thoughts are more likely to go through with the act than a child who talks about it. A lot of people assume that the children who say that they are going to kill themselves are making a scene or looking for attention witch can be the case but that child still needs a serious evaluation by a mental health expert. An example of cyber bulling assisted suicide is Amanda Todd who killed herself because she was relentlessly bullied online.
These are just a few of the many reasons that parents and guardians should be educated and aware of what there children are doing online. You never know if being uneducated about social media could cost you your child's life. Know the warning signs and be aware. Children should be of a curtain age to have social media accounts because it shortens children's attention spans, Children with social media are prone to anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts , and Children are dependent on immediate response and gratification.