Beware of the Impact of Social Media on Children and Adolescents

Along with the increasing internet access, social media has become one of the most widely used applications, including children and adolescents. Check out what are the effects of social media on the lives of children and adolescents. Most social media enforce certain age rules when registering, on average at 13 years of age. It's just that age counterfeiting is still very possible to be done online or online.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Social Media

Social media does not always give harm to children and adolescents. If used wisely, social media will actually provide many benefits. Social media can be a means of communication with friends and family, increase creativity, make it easy to connect with other people who have similar interests and hobbies, and open up opportunities to participate in various charitable activities. However, it is also necessary to consider the disadvantages that children and adolescents can get from using social media frequently, for example:

• The risk of meeting strangers that makes them feel scared or uncomfortable.
• Seeing impressions that are not appropriate for the age of the child and teenager.
• Open the possibility of harassment in cyberspace or known as cyberbullying.

Losses from the use of social media are very likely to occur. Moreover, almost some teenagers display photos with their real names. Not only that, these teenagers also mentioned their date of birth, interests, school name, and the city where they lived. This is what makes children and adolescents can be targeted by criminals. In addition to increasing the risk of cyberbullying, the use of social media also impacts the psychological health of children. Psychological effects that can occur in children and adolescents due to excessive use of social media include anxiety disorders and depression.

Safe Guide For Parents

It's not easy to monitor children and adolescents when accessing social media. Moreover, at this time social media has been widely accessed via mobile phones. The digital abilities of children and adolescents often surpass their parents. However, that does not mean parents can give up control and hand everything to the child. The following are guidelines for supervising children to stay safe in using social media:

• Apply age rules using social media

Some social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, impose a minimum age rule of 13 years to create an account. Tell children that this age restriction is done to prevent bad things for them. In addition, accompany the child while accessing social media. That way, you can find out what your kids are doing on social media.

• Pay attention to children's activities on social media

Ask the children to show their activities on social media. When you see a sentence, picture, or video that is not good, give advice to immediately report it to the social media and you as a parent. In fact, there are still many children and adolescents who are reluctant to report the bully to parents. A study revealed, more than half of children and adolescents experience abuse through social media or other digital applications.

• Limit time on accessing mobile phones and adjust computer placement

Not only the time to watch television or play games that must be limited, time to access the internet via mobile phones also need to be limited. Give them the rules for using social media, for example 1 to 2 hours after completing school work. If social media is accessed through a computer device, then place it in a location that is easily observed by parents.

• Privacy arrangements and special surveillance programs

Each social media has privacy features that can be adjusted. Ask the child to set the feature to your liking. This aims to protect children from negative things, as well as protect their social media accounts from identity theft. Parents can also use software or software that can be a child's supervisor in accessing social media, including monitoring the words typed, the content of the images shared, and other activities.

• Give a good example

Often children and adolescents, mastering technological devices much faster than their parents. However, parents should still try to find out and try the activities carried out by children. If parents are familiar with social media, set a good example for children. Avoid writing or sharing something inappropriate.

Social media is part of technological development that is difficult to stem. Therefore, parents should not be indifferent and begin to set rules so that children remain safe in using social media. If using social media makes a child stressful, or experiences problems related to the impact of social media on children, you can consult a doctor to get further treatment.