How social media affects children

 Lillian Higgins 

 Social media is a part of our everyday lives whether it’s checking to see what your friends are up to or seeing what is happening on the news. 

Even though everyone is using social media all the time, it can have a lot of negative effects. A rise in social media use was seen during the Covid 19 pandemic and has been rising since. Social media can cause poor body image issues and lead to cyber bullying in some instances.  

In January of 2025 Tik Tok was shut down for only about 12 hours but everyone was trying to find a new platform of social media that was similar to Tik Tok.  

Lily Morrison, a student at North Attleboro High School, said that she has noticed that a lot of younger people have social media like her friends' siblings and cousins.  

Morrison says that she thinks that young kids shouldn’t have access to social media unless their parents are supervising them or they are responsible enough and know the risks.  

A study done by John Hopkins in medicine in 2024 states “Nearly half of the teens interviewed in a recent survey say they use the internet “almost constantly” and 9 in 10 teens use social media.” 

Emma Wojdag, a student at Stonehill College says she sees the effects that social media has on kids because she works in an elementary school and is a nanny.  

Wojdag says a lot of the kids she watches only want to use their iPad or watch tv; she says that there defiantly has been an increase in social media and screen time in general. 

According to the study “though most social media platforms have a required minimum age of 13, almost 40% of children between the ages of 8 and 12 use social media.” More and more younger children are getting access to social media at a younger age.  

Ava Egan, a student at Newman High School, said she notices that a lot of younger students at her school are using social media.  

Egan says that she thinks social media can be helpful for students to communicate but to a certain extent, Egan said “Some kids that aren't as comfortable talking to people in person can use social media to their advantage but sometimes it gets taken to far.” 

Hopkins medicine says “In some ways social media can benefit mental health. For instance, it provides access to information that might be available elsewhere as well as a safe place to express oneself.”  

Sierra Benger, a student at Stonehill College, said “I think it’s fine once they reach their teenage years, but I do think that it should be somewhat limited.  

Hopkins says “there is also a correlation between social media use and common mental health concerns. One of the most interrelationships is between social media and depression.