Should social media be banned for children???

The topic of this week is really challenging one because at least all of us can compare our childhood with the one of new generation. It is “Social media is ruining childhood.” To what extent do you agree with it? Coughlan  believes that modern childhood terminates at the age of 12. However, when a for instance 7 year old child doesn’t know how to have fun with his/her peers and prefers sticking to the tablet or phone games, don’t you think it is much sooner than that???

It seemed to me just like an exaggeration before I personally experienced this situation when my five year old daughter looked like this boy holding a football in a gathering of 5 children and that was the point that I got even more worried about the future of next generation.

Social media and technology can harm children physically and psychologically and socially. From the physical aspect, children using the online platforms stick to a place and it results to damages to their parts of body overtime such as skeleton reshapes, vision problems and aches in their hands or obesity, which is very common nowadays. Regarding psychological problems, not only children, but also adults may suffer from cyber-bullying leading to committing suicide in some cases. Depression, anxiety and lack of concentration and self-esteem are other negative side effects of social media. Susan Stutzman describes them here. 

Moreover, visiting inappropriate content or pages can affect children’s mind negatively and lead to precocious puberty. In view of Social aspect, social media makes children isolated from the real world and ends up in children not good at social and communicative skills.

Conversely, the positive aspects of social media on children should not be neglected. This clip lists a few of them. That can be why the new generations look smarter and sharper compared to their age. Moreover, some scholars insist on the positive impact of social media on children’s mind. Nessi (2020) believes that social media not only doesn’t harm children but also creates significant new challenges and exciting opportunities for them.

Also, Eva Amin focuses on the non-conscious teaching aspect of social media and blames how some user apply it rather than the social media in case of harmful effects. Let’s watch her TEDTalk.

In conclusion, while there are several benefits of social media such as providing information, developing the mind capacity and providing new challenges for children, its physical, psychological and social negative impacts on children’s development should not be neglected. Therefore, it is necessary to guide children by digital literacy to help them benefit its advantages without becoming its victim.