Children under 10 years old use social media. Parents can help them stay safe online | CNN (2023)

FAQs

What advice can you give to other children who use the Internet or social media? ›

Make it clear that you expect your kids to treat others with respect, and to never post hurtful or embarrassing messages. And ask them to always tell you about any harassing or bullying messages that others post. Think twice before hitting "enter." Remind kids that what they post can be used against them.

First, they can be exposed to dangerous or harmful content. Secondly, there is a cyberbullying that your child can get involved in. Third, social media can be a distraction from their school work. To prevent all this from happening to children, they should not be on social under the age of 13.

The Bottom Line. Your kids are part of a generation that never knew what life was like before the internet. Since they'll be online from a much younger age than you probably were, it's important to teach them about the risks from a young age, including predators, scams and cyberbullying.

Never post or trade personal pictures. Never reveal personal information, such as address, phone number, or school name or location. Use only a screen name and don't share passwords (other than with parents). Never agree to get together in person with anyone met online without parent approval and/or supervision.

If you've got young children using the internet, parental controls of some sort are a necessity to ensure they are kept safe from threats online. These threats include predators, cybercriminals, cyberbullying and inappropriate content.

When introduced at the right age, social media can facilitate learning, networking, and friendships. Things like Face Time and Skype can help children stay in touch and develop relationships with extended family members.

We found that the effects range from spending increasing amounts of time online, behaviour change due to anticipated judgement from peers, and sensory overload, to more serious cognitive and emotional consequences such as attention problems, stress and anxiety.

It's important to teach children that even though social media is fun to use, there are risks too. Social media use makes kids and teens vulnerable to cyberbullying and provides the opportunity to cyberbully others.

How many kids under the age of 10 have social media? ›

Social media is also popular with kids, with 11 percent getting their first account when they were younger than 10 while 39 percent did so between the ages of 10 and 12.

While some experts and parental groups recommend waiting until kids are at least in the eighth grade to let them have access to social media, others note that it really depends on your child's maturity level.

By monitoring, parents can help protect their kids' online reputations. By monitoring their text messages, calls, social media, and web activity, parents can help their children be responsible, stay safe, and protect their online reputation and future. Monitoring also helps inform conversations on technology use.

Psychologists have long observed bad effects of social media on the mental health of children. One finding suggests that children spending more than three hours a day on social media are twice as likely to suffer from poor mental health. Their immersion in a virtual world delays their emotional and social development.

However, social media use can also negatively affect teens, distracting them, disrupting their sleep, and exposing them to bullying, rumor spreading, unrealistic views of other people's lives and peer pressure. The risks might be related to how much social media teens use.

Media use also can expose kids to cyberbullying, which has been linked to depression and suicide. And media use can distract kids from important tasks, interfere with homework time, and hurt school performance. It can limit quality family time and make kids feel lonely or isolated.

The positive aspects of social media

Social media enables you to: Communicate and stay up to date with family and friends around the world. Find new friends and communities; network with other people who share similar interests or ambitions. Join or promote worthwhile causes; raise awareness on important issues.

What are 3 reasons why social media is good? ›

Although there are important benefits, social media can also provide platforms for bullying and exclusion, unrealistic expectations about body image and sources of popularity, normalization of risk-taking behaviors, and can be detrimental to mental health.

Safety is important as people can contact you via social media and gain access to your personal information through your social media page. This issue multiplies if you use and are active on multiple platforms.

Despite all the positive aspects of social media, there are still an abundance of risk factors, such as privacy endangerment, exploitation and online harassment. All these negatives make social platforms a dangerous place for children under 13 years old.

I think that children 13 and under shouldn 't be using social media until they are mature enough . Social media like Instagram , Snapchat , Facebook , WhatsApp , and Messenger can cause children to have health issues , waste their time , and it can be dangerous. Social media can affect your health.

Limit younger children's exposure to PG-13 and R-rated movies. Watch media with your children and adolescents and discuss the content. Encourage non-media activities, and limit media time to two hours per day.

Keep a check on their online activities and put a time limit on your child's online presence to curb this problem. Don't let them disclose everything on social media: Sharing too much information, private details, and photos on social media platform can have much more adverse effects than you can imagine.

How can parents reduce the negative effects of social media? ›

Due to the various dangers and effects of social media, it is necessary that parents restrict their children from using social media until at least 13 years old. At that age, they may introduce those apps to their children so the process becomes more gradual and easier to monitor.

For children who may already be addicted to social media, the good news is it's totally treatable. Reducing time spent on social media or removing social media altogether may be helpful for some. For others who feel more consumed by the need to engage with social media, parents may want to consider professional help.

No amount of monitoring can protect kids from everything. And kids can often figure out how to get around parental controls. So it's best to encourage your child to be a responsible Internet user by being a good role model and talking to your kids about online safety.

However, excessive use of social media has also shown to have effects on parenting; causing parental distraction, decreasing the level of everyday parental engagement, and making a child more likely to be at risk for injury.

Social media affects teenagers' mental health negatively by limiting direct contact with peers and encouraging constant comparison online, which can lead to low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression.

Social media has both negative and positive effects on teen well-being and mental health. While social media platforms can help teens feel connected and stay in touch with friends and family, they can also contribute to depression, anxiety, loneliness, and FOMO (fear of missing out).

There may be increased risks for depression at both the high and low ends of Internet use. Risky behaviors. Teens' displays on social media often show risky behaviors, such as substance use, sexual behaviors, self-injury, or eating disorders.