Effect of Social Media on Children and Teens

Abstract

Without logging on to social media sites, passing the day for children and teens seems to be very difficult. The websites that give the liberty to socially interact with others, is a social media site, which includes social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and similar. Even the gaming sites and virtual worlds i.e. Club Penguin, YouTube and blogs also offer the same services. These websites have provided a platform to teens and children, where they communicate and spend their leisure time. Since few years, the use of these websites has increased. Hence, parents should possess knowledge of such social media sites, as not all are safe for children and teenagers. Apart from benefits, there are numerous risks involved in the use of social media sites

Effects of Social Media on Children and Teen

Introduction

Internet has greatly revolutionized the way human used to do different things. Human experience is totally changed today due to Internet. In this era, Internet is the domain used for a variety of purposes and people consider it as the most useful source for finding information, buying and selling products, also for watching TV shows and movies, look for companions, for taking part in political sphere and for different entertaining stuff (Correa et.al, 2009).

On a large scale, Internet is used for building connections with others and to maintain connections with friends, family and etc. Approx three quarters of American adults come online for this specific purpose, among which over 93% of teens are involved in this activity (Correa et.al, 2009). Everyone has one common purpose when they log on to Internet and i.e. communication (Correa et.al, 2009). In other words, Internet is now commonly and highly used for day to day tasks and since Smartphones have enable Wi-Fi and GPS connectivity, the use has been raised to an extreme level and social media sites are easily accessible.

According to a survey in 2006 (Figure 1), revealed the choices of teens, which they preferred for communicating with their friends. Though, things are different today and there could be a difference in the choices of today's teens.

Figure 1: Daily Social Communication Choices among Teens (Lenhart et.al, 2007)

Discussion

Social Media Use by Children and Teens

According to a research, it has been stated that being active on different types of social media activities on a regular basis, has benefitted children and teens. It has helped them in improving their communication skills, social connections as well as technical skills (O'Keeffe et.al, 2011).

Today, the most used social media sites Facebook and MySpace offer everyone the feasibility to connect with their friends and make new friends, find class fellows, office colleagues, and family and also the chance to join others of similar interests. In the past five years, the rate of users on these websites have raised greatly, which includes a large number of teens and children (O'Keeffe et.al, 2011).

Results of a recent poll show that social media sites are used above 10 times per day, by ...