Hi have research I want to write

Research on the Negative effects of Social Media on Children

Did you know that there are 3.196 billion social media users in the world? Social media is undeniably changing the way we communicate, finds or share information. Although it is a good thing, it does not come with a manual for our children. In this paper my focus will not only be on the negative effects of social media on children i.e. addiction, cyber-crime, victimization, health problems and Identity theft but also on the many positive things our children can make use of social media. Like every new appliance released into the market comes along with a manual, so should the social media sites come with one but since there is no such manuals (social media manual) Clearly, it’s time we wrote a social media manual for our children. Not to manipulate them, but control and guide our children safely through the modern era where social media is a major tool of communication.

I aim at providing some solutions for the negative effects of social media on children by analyzing the problem and researching online for possible solutions.

With the availability of cheap internet enabled gadgets, gone are the days when internet was only accessible via large computer screens. A quick lookup of the meaning of the word “internet”, all you are able to identify from the results is “a global village’’ a village with all manner of people and diverse cultures. Dorothea Brande. American writer and editor once stated that "A problem clearly stated is a problem half solved." (Dhillon, 2018) Therefore, throughout this paper, we shall be looking at possible solutions for the negative Effects of social media on children.

There are two sides of every coin in everything. Negative effects of social media are just but one side of the coin. Need not explain, we can agree that the effects of social media on children ranges from: identity theft which according to Stanley M (2017) “child ID fraud or theft will affect 25% of kids before turning 18”, cyberbullying, addiction, stress and low self-esteem to victimization. Since “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men “(Blow et al, 2018) we therefore need to advocate for the things that will only make our children strong and of good character, even with the risk of exposing them to the social media rather than talking merely talking about it.

With every new dawn, cyberbullying is seemingly evolving into many new forms. And is becoming a problem with its ability to make its victims experience depression and anxiety.  Cyberbullying has also been the cause of many suicides in young people (Kowalski). It is worrying enough to know that there are children even adolescents who are victims of negative comments by peers. Sexual predators tend to exploit this tactic to lure them into proving a given point by making negative comments about the children. Many others are stigmatized by the negative comments made on their posts by strangers and peers (Ybarra).

Because of many parents being concerned about the above-mentioned risks, “more children nowadays care about their online privacy” (Young).  One problem concerning privacy issues is that “many adolescents are unaware of the privacy policies on the social media websites they use “(Cox). Some of the negative things that children face online include cyberbullying, victimization, identity theft, addiction, lack of privacy and cybercrime among others. Some of the reasons why our children are left exposed to negative effects of the social media would include: Lack of online activity supervision which leaves the parents unaware of how much is exposed online about their children or even about themselves, Parents not Joining in on their children’s social networking sites, Parents busy lifestyle and idleness in children.

Suggested solutions

1. Parents and teachers should supervise their children’s online activities by joining social networking site where their children have accounts.

2. Parents can research on the impact of social networking sites on children

3. The government should come up with a policy or a community to rate the content of all websites and as well as keep track of which users visited which sites

4. Talking sense to our children on potential dangers that can be found online while using social media is the best solution we can ever think of.

5. making it hard to access some of the illegal sites could be rewarding to parents and teachers’ efforts.

However good a solution can be, if a parent has not mastered the art of speaking to his or her children and the children cannot confide in the parent then all the other solutions are indeed in vain. Most of the parents are not aware of the negative effects of social media on children. After buying mobile phones or laptops for their children, it ends at that. The type of talk that is beneficial is neither coercive nor lecture like it has love at the center of it. Talking sense on issues like what is cool, self-esteem and online bullying not only places children at a good position to face bullies but also establishes confidence in children to be able to approach bullies online while at the same time creating awareness of possible dangers that come along with the use of social media amongst children.

CONCLUSION

Nelson Mandera once said, “our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation “And the best we can do to safeguard our future is by collectively protecting our children’s presence online.

The Internet has a significant potential for providing children and youth with access to educational information, and can be compared with a huge home library. However, the lack of editorial standards limits the Internet’s credibility as a source of information. Having looked deeper into the concerns arising from the use of social media, the best thing you can do as a reader, other than sharing this content is to take charge and be responsible for our children online safety. If we let the social media handle bullies’ reports and claims, we will have failed as a people. Suppose at least a hundred thousand accounts are reported for bully daily? Shall the company block a thousand accounts daily? In no time the company will have no users. It is therefore a thing for you just as it is for me to safeguard our children.

Works Cited

1. Blow, Charles. "Opinion | Fathers’ Sons And Brothers’ Keepers". Nytimes.Com, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/01/opinion/blow-fathers-sons-and-brothers-keepers.html.

2. Clark, Tyler. "Internet Addiction: Too Much Time On The Internet For Kids". The Center For Parenting Education, 2018, https://centerforparentingeducation.org/library-of-articles/kids-and-technology/how-much-time-internet-kids/.