This content focuses on teenagers in the age group of 11-14 and how their usage of social media can produce harmful effects. My content is to address these issues of how social media is damaging and to provide solutions to how parents can ensure the safety and protection of their teens online. This content is to provide tips to parents and their teens on how they can make sure that these harmful effects of social media do not harm them too.
In today’s society, one of the most constantly changing things is social media. Social media can include any platform such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit and TikTok. Although these platforms provide great entertainment, social media has been proven to cause harmful effects on teenagers itself. According to the Mayo Clinic, teenagers spend the majority of their time on social media. The Mayo Clinic addresses that although social media gives teenagers the platform to express their identities, connect with others, and to build networks, the downside of these platforms all produce risks that can be harmful to these teenagers (Mayo Clinic, 2022). Social media can heighten risk of mental health problems, low self-esteem, and even the possible risk of earning a bad reputation. Although social media can have its downsides, there are some measures that parents can take to monitor what teenagers do on social media. These tips include: teens being encouraged to be respectful online, creating strong passwords to prevent identity theft, not befriending strangers online, a limit of screentime, and a weekly parent update on their social media (Mayo Clinic, 2022) (Ben-Joseph, 2018).
Content Created By Amber Brown
Citations
Ben-Joseph, E. P. (2018, April). Teaching Kids to Be Smart About Social Media (for Parents) – Nemours KidsHealth. Kids Health. https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/social-media-smarts.html
Mayo Clinic Staff. (2022, February 26). Teens and social media use: What’s the impact? Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/tween-and-teen-health/in-depth/teens-and-social-media-use/art-20474437
