Here are a detailed reasons why social media is bad for kids. Unlike the old times when kids or teenagers used to go out to play for hours, today’s younger generation prefers to sit in privacy and entertain themselves by watching, liking, or commenting on reels, posts, or memes. Younger generations are leaning into social media to entertain themselves.
For a kid, social platforms are a way to pass the time; for another, it can be the reason for bad health. Social media is impacting today’s generation’s mental, physical, and emotional health, and in today’s article, we will discuss “Why?”
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Exposure to Inappropriate Content
Social media is for everyone! You will see every sort of content, from dance videos to explicit content, everything is available there. It’s not easy for kids to get over that sort of content which affects their mental health and stresses them out. Children between the ages of 5 and 16 develop their personalities and explicit online content can influence their behavior.
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Cyberbullying
One of the biggest issues that everyone faces on social media platforms is cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is like passing on negative comments, continuously going after an individual online, and saying hurtful or funny things, Memes on certain life, etc. Kids who face cyber abuse can go under depression and can have a lot of anxiety as online abuse can lower their self-esteem, confidence, and creativity. The saddest part of social media is that there are no boundaries individuals can say anything about anyone.
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Privacy and Safety Risks
Kids do not understand terms like privacy and security on social media as we do. It’s important to make them know the difference between personal and social life. Sharing too much personal information about life can be dangerous, as we cannot predict the thinking of third parties Apart from influencers, there’s the possibility that kids can face scammers, cheaters, creeps, and stalkers. It’s a vital responsibility of parents to let their children know not to trust anyone easily.
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Mental Health Issues
According to the studies, spending too much time on social media platforms, like Instagram, and Facebook can lead to many mental issues like anxiety or depression. Children scroll through multiple accounts and compare themselves with what they see and feel low. It’s not easy to feel good about yourself when all you see is someone else’s best.
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Addiction and Screen Time
Addiction to social media platforms is bad, you can spend hours without getting bored as these apps are designed to be used as long as possible. Addiction to social media has reached a point where kids forget to do their homework, neglect sleep, and don’t play which is affecting their studies and health.
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Impact on Social Skills
Due to social media, people cannot see the difference between real life and fake life. Unlike the old times, now we discuss most of the things on WhatsApp, and Kids share snaps, which kills the most important personality skill, i.e., face-to-face communication.
Kids spend most of their time communicating through screens, which limits the time to learn about body language and physical interactions.
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Distorted Body Image
Whatever we see on social media is not real. It comes to us with many filters. Teenagers don’t understand this and imitate the screen, which leads to health issues. Understandably, everyone wants to be perfect but there’s no guarantee that social media is also ideal.
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Sleep Disruption
Mostly, 90% of the population spends at least 2 hours on social media before sleep, which disturbs our sleeping pattern. After an exhausting day, people need 7-8 hours of sleep, but the blue rays from our phones affect our melatonin levels, which makes it harder for us to sleep and reduces our sleep quality too.
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Risk of Exposure to Harmful Behaviors
Some of the content on social media is too dangerous for the children but still under the influence they copy and harm themselves. Things like drugs, bike stunts, and posting something inappropriate seem cooler to them and a way to become popular. To get attention they imitate the same. Every content on social media is not for children and as I said above under the influence of filters and fame kids are harming themselves physically and mentally.
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Decreased Happiness and Life Satisfaction
When we focus on “what they have” we forget to see “What we have” and we torture ourselves to be like them leading to a state where we become sad and depressed. As per the reports, excessive use of social media can make children unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives, and the reason is comparison. Comparison with others and maintaining the online image puts kids under pressure and makes them feel sad.
Lastly, With the numerous benefits of social media like communication, and connectivity with the world, there are disadvantages too especially for the younger generation. Kids don’t fully understand the good and bad for them, it’s our responsibility to teach them about safety, privacy, personality, and a roadmap to a healthy lifestyle.
Also Read: Understanding the Difference Between Gadgets and Technology