Exposing younger audiences to social media is detrimental to their well-being. Children continue indulging in unhealthy amounts of digital media instead of participating in active exercise or activities that healthily stimulate the brain. They are practically addicted to the rush of dopamine that social media provides, which was only made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, socialization has not been the same, giving children as young as 9-12 years old social media access in order to talk to their friends at a distance. Despite the issues that this brings–like the normalization of self-diagnoses, body dysmorphia and underaged dating–social media gave younger children the ability to communicate with their friends and loved ones when most activities were cancelled.
Social media quickly became the reason many children stopped going outside and playing. It became common for children to post about their life rather than experience it. Outdoor engagements, such as meeting up with friends and hanging out with family members, do not happen as often anymore because of the seclusion caused by children’s addiction to their devices.
Unfortunately, children tend to lie about their ages on these apps just to use them. This causes them to be exposed to sensitive topics without parental guidance, which can result in them believing certain things are normal that are not, such as using retinol to prevent aging.
In particular, social media platforms tend to push out a lot of relationship content. For instance, people post pictures of their significant others, along with lists of the things that they like about their partners. Consequently, there are teenagers as young as 13 on dating apps.
Relationships are also overly glorified on social media, leading children to believe they should be in a relationship rather than focusing on school or hanging out with their friends. Social media’s emphasis on needing a significant other even causes young girls and boys to feel the need to advance quickly in order to feel older than they are.
While social media is actively pushing relationship content amongst younger viewers, the over-exposure to body image content is forcing a certain image on young girls that includes plastic surgery, nose jobs and being excessively skinny. This is especially problematic because those they see with these features are often way older than them.
The aforementioned beauty standard has increasingly promoted mental health issues like body dysmorphia, anorexia and other eating disorders. Methods to avoid eating like chewing gum and drinking ice water–which became popular on TikTok–are prime examples of the obsession with weight-loss. As a result, the topic has escalated to the point where young girls are worried about their body image from the moment they hit puberty onwards.
Further, it has become a trend for girls around 10-12 years old to post “get ready with me” videos on TikTok as a way of sharing their morning routines. Unfortunately, after being exposed to adult get ready with me content, these girls are using anti-aging creams/serums on their faces, putting on heavy makeup and wearing mature clothing.
By doing these things, young girls are not only harming their skin by using products not meant for people their age, but are also forcing themselves to grow up too early. Social media has aged children far beyond their years, causing them to begin to worry about things that should not concern them at such a young age.
Playing with dolls, hanging out with friends or getting ice-cream with their families does not seem to be the latest concern for children. Instead, they are concerned with what skincare item they will get next and the newest Stanley colors.
Bullying and cyberbullying are common results that come from the over-influence of status on social media. If kids do not have a specific item that is particularly popular on social media, they are made fun of. Children are bullied for having knock-offs of a name brand item that suddenly became popular on social media. This causes them to worry about what clothes they should be wearing or what new skincare item they should add to their routine.
Social media regulation already exists but the measures taken are not extensive enough to keep young children off of them. If parents could take the initiative to enforce the parental controls most social media platforms offer, that would be one step forward to effectively monitoring what children are seeing on social media.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to imitate some of the behaviors of adults, but it becomes a problem when children are hurting themselves and others because of it. Wanting the latest Rhode lip gloss and making fun of others for not being able to afford the product, is not the same as children playing around with mom’s make-up because they want to be like her.
