Social media has made it easy for kids and teens to be exposed to harmful, inappropriate and hate-based content, such as self-harm acts, social media challenges and racist content. Two of the main ways that kids can come across inappropriate content are by the type of videos or posts that show up on their feed and when things are shared through messages by peers or strangers online.
Body image concerns and low self-esteem
With social media, it is easy to compare yourself to others in a time where it has gotten hard to tell if something has been edited or filtered, and when you are seeing peers post the best version of themselves or a highlight reel of their life. If you feel your life doesn’t match that, it can lead to mental health issues like low self-esteem, depression, body dissatisfaction, eating disorders and more.
Social media can become addictive
The goal of tech companies is to increase engagement and make users stay on their app for as long as possible. Some of the ways tech companies do this are by taking user data to make their algorithm more engaging and by having addictive features such as the like button, which triggers the same dopamine pathways as chemical addictions. You can read more about how likes are addictive here.
Predatory behavior and interactions
Another risk on social media is that people with bad intentions can target young children to exploit them. This is often done through the messaging feature on apps.
Anyone on social media can try and send messages to other accounts. It’s important to go over the privacy setting of your child’s accounts with them and make sure people who they don’t know aren’t following them. And depending on the app, you might be able to restrict who can send messages to your child’s account.
Sleep problems
Adolescents and teens need both good quality and lots of sleep for healthy development. However, excessive use of social media can disrupt sleep patterns and cause poor sleep. If you have a child that is having a hard time falling asleep at night or not getting quality sleep, you can read more about sleeping tips for kids of all ages here.