Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1463655
A report from the UK's com- munications regulator Ofcom confirms children are avid so- cial media users. Some 99% of children aged three to 17 used the internet in 2021. YouTube was the most popular platform, with 89% of children using it. Meanwhile, half of kids used TikTok, a pop- ular site which allows users to watch and share short videos. Most social media platforms require users to be aged 13 or older. Nonetheless, the report found that a majority of chil- dren under 13 had their own profile on at least one social media app or site. One-third of parents of children aged five to seven said their child had a pro- file, which rose to 60% among children aged eight to 11. Overcoming these age restric- tions is clearly not a difficult task. Children simply supply a fake age when setting up their account. Meanwhile, some chil- dren have multiple accounts on the same platform – one for their friends, and another for their parents. The report also found that roughly 16% of three and four- year-olds watch videos on Tik- Tok. This could be children being shown videos by a parent or somebody else, and does not mean they have their own ac- count. But they are still being exposed to social media content at a very young age. With these findings in mind, it's timely to take a look at what we know about how social media use can affect children across different age groups. The good and the bad Engaging with social media can have both positive and neg- ative effects on people, especial- ly children. My colleagues and I have shown that social media use is important for emotional support, community building and self-expression among ad- olescents, but that it can nega- tively impact mental health and wellbeing as well. In our work at the Cyberpsy- chology Research Group at Nottingham Trent University, we have talked to young adoles- cents, their parents and teach- ers about perceived challenges and online harms from social media use. We found that the effects range from spending increasing amounts of time online, behav- iour change due to anticipated judgement from peers, and sen- sory overload, to more serious cognitive and emotional conse- quences such as attention prob- lems, stress and anxiety. New research suggests that there appear to be differences across age groups with regards to the effects social media use can have on life satisfaction. In a large UK sample of over 17,000 young people aged ten to 21, researchers found the detri- mental effects of high levels of social media use may be espe- cially pronounced at ages 14-15 and 19 for boys, and 11-13 and 19 for girls. Former Facebook employ- ee Frances Haugen revealed in 2021 that internal Facebook research has repeatedly shown detrimental mental health impacts of Instagram use for young girls. Separately, we know excessive screen time can be associated with symptoms of stress, anxie- ty, depression and addiction. Recommendations from the American Academy of Pedi- atrics suggest no screen time for children under two, and a maximum of one hour per day for those aged two to five years, focused on high-quality content (for example, content which is educational). While we don't know exact- ly what kind of content young children are watching on so- cial media, it's unlikely to be high-quality, and could be harmful. What can we do? With the recently published online safety bill, the UK gov- ernment aims to make the UK the safest place in the world to go online. Accordingly, we need to consider the potentially det- rimental impacts internet use in general and excessive social me- dia use specifically can have on young people, especially those who are vulnerable. We need to see increased us- er protection (such as age ver- ification measures) and harm prevention initiatives (such as school-based education about the benefits and potential harms of social media use). We also need to see the in- volvement of community and government organisations in education and awareness cam- paigns, as well as a focus on increased corporate social re- sponsibility, where the indus- try takes an active approach in designing products with the best interests of the user in mind. While we discourage over-pa- thologising everyday behaviour – for example, we shouldn't assume everyone who spends a few hours online has a problem with their internet use – prob- lematic behaviour needs to be acknowledged and users need to be supported. This can pre- vent it leading to negative men- tal health consequences. Support for young internet users needs to come from par- ents, teachers, governments and the social media industry. Parents can be encouraged to start an open dialogue with their children, which will build rapport and allow children to open up about their social me- dia use. maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 APRIL 2022 OPINION 13 How social media affects children at different ages – and how to protect them Daria Kuss is Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Nottingham Trent University Daria Kuss 16% of three and four-year-olds watch videos on TikTok. This could be children being shown videos by a parent or somebody else, and does not mean they have their own account. But they are still being exposed to social media content at a very young age