As younger children log on to social media, there are serious repercussions that go beyond the obvious.

A recent study by ‘The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens, 2021’ released recently says kids as young as eight are actively using social media. While we all know of the effect that gadgets have on your eyes, there is a deeper, disturbing trend that this behaviour is silently fostering.

Children getting drawn towards social media can be because of a host of reasons like making new friends, connecting with existing friends, sharing interests, exploring identities, spending time going through various posts, or being simply drawn by the engagement-promoting designs and ads on the social media sites. Young kids use social media to have fun, watch videos of their interest, post their own videos, make, and maintain friendships, share interests, explore identities, and develop relationships with family.

Constantly viewing social media sometimes interferes with a child’s sleeping pattern, it lowers cognitive abilities especially those related to short-term memory, and language development.

Over the past few years, the number of gadgets on the market has skyrocketed. The switch from offline to online classrooms is one of the key causes. Kids were exposed to PCs, iPads, and smartphones overnight.

The best way to control children’s use of social media is for parents to have a healthy talk with their children and try to understand why their kids are interested in having an account on social media.

Read the full story that first appeared in Deccan Chronicle dated August 30, 2022 here: