Can social networks have negative impact on users’ interactions, mental states of mind and even physical health? Researchers have tried to crack this question multiple times, and some of them believe to have found the correct answers.
In the world where three billion people are daily using social networking sites for at least couple of hours, it becomes rather difficult to interact with people face-to-face and find meaningful connections. No wonder such outcomes can be predicted. According to recent statistics, 78% of adults check their phones hourly, and 50% indicated that they were completely addicted to their phones.
But these arguments have been opposed by other researchers, claiming that social networks can actually help people fight anxiety and develop communication skills.
Children on Facebook: for or against?
While adults should limit their time spent on social networking sites, children-health advocates are much more strict when it comes to minors, using Facebook or Twitter. Right after Facebook decided to introduce a Messenger Kids app, a huge media splash was noticed. Many specialists encouraged Facebook to remove this app as children under 13 are not ready to take part in the crazy mess of social networks.
Speaking of the Messenger Kids app itself, Facebook describes it as a simple and safe platform for children’s communication. It is a simplified version of a regular Messenger. Before kids can actually use this app, parental approval is required. In addition to this, the app is ad-free and no information from it is shared with advertisers.
With this app, Facebook hopes to introduce a secure platform which can be used by people as young as elementary school students. However, is it healthy to start using social networking sites from such age? Is it not enough that millions of teens around the world constantly use social sites and miss out on many face-to-face interactions?
From our point of view, it looks like Facebook is trying to prepare a generation of fanatics, trained to use this network from a very young age. Wouldn’t be better to allow kids be kids for as long as it is possible, before stereotypes, unhealthy body images and peer pressure gets to them?
Children-health advocates appear to have the same opinion and emphasize on the harmful effects that digital devices and social media can have on children and teens. Navigating through online conversations is pretty difficult for adults. It is catastrophic to imagine how children would deal with the complexities of online relationships.
Of course, there are two sides of every coin. According to Facebook, they have received a lot of positive feedback from parents, claiming that Messenger Kids allowed them to keep in touch with children while they were away. However, instead of creating a new account for you child, kids could use parents’ accounts, Skype or other apps. This would have the same positive effect and would push away the negative tension, coming from social media.
Social networks: use it wisely
Of course, we are not saying that you should quit Facebook or Twitter. However, it has been made clear that such sites can become a narcotic substance of some sort. You probably have heard stories about people, incapable of going one day without checking their Facebook accounts.
This definitely seems like an addiction. It is also disturbing why would parents want to expose their kids to social media from a very young age. In fact, these networks should be used in small doses, so you would not become addicted to the meaningless posts on your news feed. As for parents: try to keep your children away from social networks for as long as possible.
Source: bbc.com.
