I am a firm believer that social media sites such as Facebook should be limited to adults only. Facebook was created for college students to connect. As it grew in popularity, other adults started joining in the fun. Facebook is an excellent way to keep in touch with friends, old and new. I love being able to see the children of friends that I never get to see in person. Facebook has truly done a lot for friendships and acquaintances that don’t have time to keep in touch during everyday life. With that said, I do not think it is appropriate for children or adolescents. My reasoning will be discussed in the paragraph to follow.
While Facebook and other social media sites are great tools for adults to keep in touch and have a few laughs over a meme, it is mostly inappropriate for children. Many of the meme’s or even conversations started on Facebook contain racy content. Our children are being exposed to adult humor and adult content at earlier ages than ever before. I believe that this is harmful to a child. According to Brown et al. earlier exposure to sexual content indeed increases the odds that an adolescent will engage in sexual behavior at an earlier age (2006). An article published by the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry suggests that although the newest forms of media have not yet been adequately studied (such as Facebook), exposure to media in general causes increased violent and risky behaviors such as drug use, tobacco use, and aggressive behavior (Villani 2001).
In summation, exposure to social media is not necessary for children as they see each other every day at school. Text messaging and phone calls are sufficient means of communication for adolescents. There is absolutely no reason that adolescents should have access to social media or even unsupervised internet play.
Brown, Jane D. and Kelly Ladin L’Engle Carol J. Pardun Guang Guo Kristin Kenneavy Christine Jackson, 2006. Sexy Media Matter: Exposure to Sexual Content in Music, Movies, Television, and Magazine Predicts Black and White Adolescents’ Sexual Behavior. Pediatrics Volume 117 Issue 4. Web. Accessed 21 October 2016. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/117/4/1018.short
Villani, Susan M.D., 2001. Impact of Media on Children and Adolescents: A 10-Year Review of the Research. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Volume 40, Issue 4. Web. Accessed 21 October 2016. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890856709603877
I agree that a lot of social media sites such as Facebook are more adult oriented forums and contain content that is not suitable for children or teens. It does not seem unsurprising that exposure to sexual content may lead adolescents to engage in sexual activity at an earlier age. I also agree that internet use by adolescents should be supervised. My own parents regularly policed my internet use growing up. While I hated it then, I’m glad they protected me from the many unsavory aspects of the internet.
I agree with you that social media should be limited to adults. I think that unfortunately the majority of users on social media are teenagers and young adults. I also think that in a modern world where the Internet is easily accessible to basically anyone, it would be very hard to impose anything where kids underage are not allowed to use a social media website. Trying to enforce this would entail things like having people using a social security number or something along those lines to see how old they are. We see not only teenagers using FB but smaller children, ages 8,9, and 10, lying about their age to create a profile on social media. Perhaps eventually we will have the means to regulate social media. Until then I think the best we can do is have parents and family keep a close eye on their children’s internet usage.