This article explores the impact of social media on child development and family health. Why do we allow our children to use social media sites before their privacy policies allow? Why do we let them lie about their ages to use these sites? What is it about technology that lets us bend these rules in a way we would never do in the unplugged world? Gaining insight into the answers to these questions and what is positive and negative about social media and the digital world allows us to talk to families about this world, allay their concerns, and keep children of all age safe when using social media.
Key points
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Social media is everywhere and used by adults and children.
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Social media can have a positive impact on child development in terms of fostering communication, socialization, and learning.
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Social medial can have a negative impact on child development with such issues as bullying, sexting, and inappropriate content contributing to additional issues.
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Social media can have positive and negative issues on family health and needs to be used within a family with attention and care with a focus on the ages of the children at home.
Introduction
“What’s the harm?” That’s the age-old rhetorical question parents ask when trying to convince themselves that the new shiny toy or gizmo on the block is safe for their children. In the age of electronics, this question has been asked about every new device: video cassette recorders, televisions, radios, Walkmen, MP3 players, cell phones used as phones, smart phones, tablets, gaming systems, apps, and now social media. As with issues in the nondigital world, safety with social media is a balance between common sense and understanding the rules of what one is using. Social media is a tool. Like all tools, whether there is harm or not depends on how it is used. Used correctly, there should not be a need for concern. Used incorrectly, problems could arise.
Technology is faceless so it is tempting to forget that issues can occur from its use. Technology seems like a mere tool, an extension of the ability to connect and communicate. With a device in hand, we forget that there are people at the other end. With interactions with people, however, complications can arise from miscommunications to true harm, such as privacy breaches and bullying.
With face-to-face connections, we are not so brazen. We take more care in how we interact. We are careful in our choice of words and our mannerisms. We teach our children the social norms and behaviors expected for negotiating the world. We do not allow our children into certain situations until they are old enough. Some of these situations we determine, but others are determined by society, such as the drinking age and driving age.
So, why do we allow our children to use social media sites, such as Facebook, Instagram, Kik, Twitter, and others, before their privacy policies allow? Why do we let them lie about their ages to use these sites? What is it about technology that lets us bend these rules in a way we would never do in the unplugged world?
Gaining insight into the answers to these questions and what is positive and negative about social media and the digital world allows us to talk to families about this world, allay their concerns, and keep children of all age safe when using social media. We live in a social media–focused world, a world that will only become more digitally connected. Our job is to help parents stop thinking about digital life and nondigital life and just think about life. Parents already know how to parent. What we need to help them do is parent with digital devices and social media with the same good sense they use for all other areas of their children’s lives.
Introduction
“What’s the harm?” That’s the age-old rhetorical question parents ask when trying to convince themselves that the new shiny toy or gizmo on the block is safe for their children. In the age of electronics, this question has been asked about every new device: video cassette recorders, televisions, radios, Walkmen, MP3 players, cell phones used as phones, smart phones, tablets, gaming systems, apps, and now social media. As with issues in the nondigital world, safety with social media is a balance between common sense and understanding the rules of what one is using. Social media is a tool. Like all tools, whether there is harm or not depends on how it is used. Used correctly, there should not be a need for concern. Used incorrectly, problems could arise.
Technology is faceless so it is tempting to forget that issues can occur from its use. Technology seems like a mere tool, an extension of the ability to connect and communicate. With a device in hand, we forget that there are people at the other end. With interactions with people, however, complications can arise from miscommunications to true harm, such as privacy breaches and bullying.
With face-to-face connections, we are not so brazen. We take more care in how we interact. We are careful in our choice of words and our mannerisms. We teach our children the social norms and behaviors expected for negotiating the world. We do not allow our children into certain situations until they are old enough. Some of these situations we determine, but others are determined by society, such as the drinking age and driving age.
So, why do we allow our children to use social media sites, such as Facebook, Instagram, Kik, Twitter, and others, before their privacy policies allow? Why do we let them lie about their ages to use these sites? What is it about technology that lets us bend these rules in a way we would never do in the unplugged world?
Gaining insight into the answers to these questions and what is positive and negative about social media and the digital world allows us to talk to families about this world, allay their concerns, and keep children of all age safe when using social media. We live in a social media–focused world, a world that will only become more digitally connected. Our job is to help parents stop thinking about digital life and nondigital life and just think about life. Parents already know how to parent. What we need to help them do is parent with digital devices and social media with the same good sense they use for all other areas of their children’s lives.
Today’s family: digital use
Today’s family is digital. Knowing the trends of use within a family can assist a health care provider in helping families adjust their use to more age-appropriate limits when necessary.
Parents Today
Parents use of digital media, especially social media, often sets the tone for use within a home. Today’s parents are online and are heavy social media users. According to the Pew Research Center, parents use Facebook much more than all other social media platforms followed by Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. With the exception of Twitter, mothers use these platforms more frequently than fathers.
Use by parents is largely informative. Parents use apps and social media to stay connected and up to date. Although documentation via pictures and video is important, it provides a personal goal as opposed to the need to be seen by a wide audience as with their children. Parents “friends” are very personal. Their children’s “friends” may not be so.
Parental Concerns
Parents top health concerns have been stable over the last few years, as documented by the CS Mott Children’s Hospital National Children’s Health Poll. Although the rank order has changed slightly, obesity, bullying, and Internet safety have remained in the top 10 with sexting entering the list most years. These concerns are not surprising because all have a considerable impact on child health, directly and indirectly, and all are related to an ever-growing dependency on digital devices. Obesity, for example, has been linked to children who are heavy game users and digital technology users, in addition to their lack of exercise and poor nutrition. Bullying has an online and offline component. Sexting is a unique online and digital issue that can have lasting consequences. Internet safety has been a stable concern as the digital world has become more prevalent in everyone’s lives.
The underlying cause of all concerns related to the digital world, such as those concerning social media use, is a fear from parents that they are in the dark about what their children are doing. Nearly 30% of parents are concerned about technology use in general. The less they know, the more they feel out of touch. This has been occurring at a greater pace as society has become more mobile.
Another major issue is the gap between what parents think their children are doing online and the reality. Parents typically underestimate how much time children are using social media and are not as aware as they think about what they are using for applications. With new applications emerging so quickly, many parents simply cannot keep up and teenagers have learned to be a step ahead of parents by using applications that seem innocent, but are not, and to actually hide what they are doing.
Parents, feeling uncertain, want to lock down technology, but that is not progress for anyone. As with nondigital issues in parenting, helping them foster a forum for communication and parenting with a reasonable approach to the issue at hand produces much better results. This is discussed in more detail later.
Teenage Social Media Use
Teenagers are as digitally tuned in as their parents. Teenage activities fall into distinct groups: communication (texting, messaging), pinboards, gaming, video calls and chats, and photograph documentation. The social media group comprises 15% of all teenagers and tweens.
This is a group that thrives on being involved and their app and social media use centers around these issues. As with their parents, Facebook is the main social media application used, followed by Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Google+, and a variety of others. A total of 95% of teenagers 12 and older are online with 80% owning a computer and 77% owning a cellphone. Their digital use is highly mobile with visual apps increasing in use compared with prior surveys, according to Pew Internet.
In addition to the social media applications that their parents use, teenagers gravitate to another group of social media sites that allow for different types of communication. Some of these sites, however, also are also used by young adults and older adults and can be a source for inappropriate contact and cyberbullying. It is important to note these sites and inform parents about them. The more popular sites include Kik, Vine, and YikYak.
Positive aspects of social media
The positive aspects of social media are well documented. Connection with peers and family, creation of video and pictures, and information gathering are all positive activities, especially for teenagers. Older teenagers and college-age students have also found social media valuable in keeping abreast of activities at school and important safety alerts.
Social media is used by middle school and high school students in a variety of ways. Some teachers use social media for assignments. Students use social media to swap homework. School groups use social media to post about activities. Blogs and video creation are also popular activities in these age groups.
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