Social Media is Dangerous for Our Children and Grandchildren

 Social Media is Dangerous for Our Children and Grandchildren

                                                          An image of a child who is distressed while using her iPad.
                                            

Social Media, what’s the deal with that? Why are children and the younger generation so obsessed with it? What happened to board games, playing outside, and reading books or newspapers? As time changes, so do people and technology. Seeing how technology advanced can be very interesting to some and even more confusing to others; however, it seems that children seem to understand social media more than they should.

          Social Media is constantly supported by young people, and it seems really great. People can even read the newspaper online thanks to social media. Social media seems to be the place where people can connect and maintain relationships, explore different parts of the world, and even learn about other subjects and cultures, and so much more! But as they say, some things are too good to be true. Social media may seem significant, but there is a dangerous side that can hurt many children and young people.

          Social media cannot physically harm someone, but that doesn’t mean that social media cannot hurt someone mentally. The saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt”, holds practically no weight. Some readers have personally been hurt by words and know that words are sayings that can stick in one’s mind. Imagine having those words and hurtful sayings thrown at one constantly throughout the day and night, the berating never ends, and one is constantly being dragged down. While some people may say things like, “get tougher skin” or “let those words roll off your back”, that is not always possible especially if it is a child who is hearing these comments. Think about grandchildren and any child under the age of 13 per se. Imagine being or seeing a child getting bullied and cussed out all day every day. The child may then become sadder and maybe even depressed.

          The article Social Media 'fails young', talks about how "a survey of 2,000 children by Rachel de Souza also found that half had seen harmful content online in the same period". That means if one has two grandchildren, at least one grandchild would be able to find such harmful content. Some may wonder what type of harmful content children can truly find on the internet and through social media platforms. Thanks to the eBook, Social Media and hate, it is said that social media consists of “trolling, abusive speech, doxing, and hacking”. If one were to think about young children being subject to this speech and hate every day, people may change their minds about social media. Many people are almost hypnotized by social media, thinking that it cannot do wrong, when the problems are staring at them in their face. Social media may seem great on paper, but when put into practice it can turn into a dangerous platform for children to hurt themselves and others.

          While harmful content is a big part of harm in social media, the real question is what do those elements cause children to feel? According to The Light and the Dark Side of Social Media Use: Depression, Anxiety, and Eating Attitudes, social media can cause "increased levels of depression, anxiety, and physiological distress". Thinking about children and grandchildren having to go through such stress and speech abuse at a young age can cause them to become depressed. Social media masks these things by promoting how good they are for people to stay connected, but underneath it, all is the constant hate speech that causes children to doubt themselves and become anxious. Children who should not have to care about much and not need to worry about being an adult and making money, are being depressed, anxious, and eventually gaining physiological distress. This can majorly impact them for the rest of their lives due to the fact that they were on social media.

          Unfortunately, there are even worse case scenarios than that of depression, anxiety, and physiological distress. One may ask themselves how this gets worse, but the answer to that question would be challenging. Challenges are something that is relatively new, but a very dangerous concept. The article Harmful 'games' and challenges that can be found on social media, lists different challenges such as the black-out challenge, the gauntlet challenge, and the bright eye challenge. These may just seem like laughable names; however, these challenges are much more than funny names. The black-out challenge is a challenge where children can try to make themselves blackout by suffocating themselves until they pass out. The gauntlet challenge is when a person watches twenty videos, each getting more distressing than the last. And the bright-eye challenge is when a person uses dangerous chemicals like bleach to make their eyes brighter. This has led to ocular burns, loss of sight, and burns around the eye. The sad fact is that these were only three of the hundreds of challenges that exist. People and children record themselves doing these challenges and post it to social media to have others try it as well. Children may see this and try it themselves potentially severely hurting or even killing themselves in the process.

          People don’t seem to understand that social media is a very dangerous platform, and the more society can keep children off of it, the better. Instead of having a child potentially die or have deep psychological harm, they would be able to live their life peacefully. Having children and even younger people off social media and not spending too much time on such platforms would allow people to have a better self-image and mental health.