Social Media Use and Safety

Introduction

Social media is everywhere you go—whether you’re out with friends and filming content to post on Instagram or TikTok, catching up with pop culture or global news on Twitter first thing in the morning, or updating your relationship status on Facebook. It’s quite inescapable in the technologically advanced world we live in today. This blog will be covering a topic that may be beneficial to anyone of any age, especially teens and young adults, which is social media use and safety. With social media being such a prominent part of many of our lives, there are a few important things to address that could potentially help you or anyone you know navigate social media in a safe manner.

Appropriate Starting Age for Social Media Use

In the research article Adolescents and Social Media: Privacy, Brain Development, and the Law (Costello et al., 2016), the authors discuss the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and how it provides some protection to the privacy of children under the age of 13, but not much protection for children between ages 13 to 17. 

This can be scary for teens and young adults, as well as for their parents. While most social media platforms require people to be at least 13 years old to create an account, it can be useful to be informed about what age researchers think is the most appropriate age to start using social media. 

In the article Surgeon General: 13-Year-Olds Too Young to Join Social Media (Mueller, 2023), Mueller talked about how the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy stated that based on the data he has seen, he believes that 13-year-olds are too young to join social media. As quoted by Vivek Murthy: 

“It’s a time, you know, early adolescence, where kids are developing their identity, their sense of self. It’s a time where it’s really important for us to be thoughtful about what’s going into how they think about their own self worth and their relationships and the skewed and often distorted environment of social media often does a disservice to many of those children” (Mueller, 2023). 

This is something that several researchers and lawmakers have long debated about—“both the health and security risks for children consuming social media content and sharing their own data on the apps” (Mueller, 2023). 

Another article called Digital Dangers: At What Age Should Kids Get Social Media? (Bowers, 2022) stated that parents should not allow their kids to join social media platforms until after the age of 13 due to the increase in social media danger, such as the dangerous trends that accompany them (Bowers, 2022). Some of the dangerous trends that have gone viral over the past few years include the consumption of tide pods, burning areas of the body with salt and ice, the choking game, and the penny challenge. 

So what age is the most appropriate to join social media? Well, there doesn’t seem to be a set age. However, based on the current research, many experts are stating that it’s more appropriate to join later in adolescence due to the risks and level of development children are at during that period. 

Appropriate Levels of Parental Involvement 

Depending on when your child starts utilizing social media, it can be difficult to know how much parental involvement is appropriate. Fortunately, appropriate parental involvement can be demonstrated in a few ways. One way is by modeling good technology behaviors, such as limiting screen-time and engaging in other activities to show that you can have social media and continue partaking in other tasks and activities. Another way to get involved is by encouraging the importance of privacy when it comes to social media by teaching your child what is appropriate to set on private vs. on public and how to engage those settings. You also can remind your child not to share anything online that they wouldn’t be comfortable with the entire world reading or seeing. Another great way to get involved while respecting your child’s boundaries is becoming friends with them on social media platforms to see what they may be posting rather than spying on them. All good things must begin with a good level of trust, and spying can be detrimental to that trust. 

Potential Risks Associated with Social Media Use 

Moving into the potential risks of social media use, the research article The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities (Nesi, 2020) discusses how adolescence represents a period of heightened risk for the onset of mental illness and the incidence of certain mental health concerns. Two primary examples are depression and suicide, in which social media can cause or worsen for numerous reasons. 

The heightened risk for the onset of mental illness can be caused or worsened by the following factors:

• Becoming “friends” with strangers 
• Cyberbullying 
• Exposure to explicit content 
• Social comparison 
• Social exclusion

Utilizing Social Media Safely

So, how can you or a loved one make use of social media in a safe and healthy manner? 

• Adjusting your privacy settings in a way that limits who can see your information. 
• Refraining from sharing your location while you’re still at that location. 
• Reporting inappropriate & dangerous accounts & content. 
• Abstaining from accepting follow or direct message requests with strangers, especially if you don’t share any mutual friends with that person. 
• Thinking before you post. 
• Limiting use of social media via screen-time limiting apps. 

Conclusion

With social media being such a prominent part of modern life, the things addressed above are important to keep in mind. By following these tips and modeling safe behavior, you and those you love can navigate social media in a safe and healthy manner.

References

Bower, J. (2022). Digital Dangers: At What Age Should Kids Get Social Media? 

The Liberty Champion. https://www.liberty.edu/champion/2022/02/digital-dangers-at-what-age-should-kids-get-social-media/ 

‌Costello, C. R., McNiel, D. E., & Binder, R. L. (2016). Adolescents and Social Media: Privacy, 

Brain Development, and the Law. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 44(3), 313–321. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27644864/ 

Mueller, J. (2023). Surgeon general: 13-year-olds too young to join social media. The Hill. 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3835954-surgeon-general-13-year-olds-too-young-to-join-social-media/ 

Nesi, J. (2020). The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health: Challenges and 

Opportunities. North Carolina Medical Journal, 81(2), 116–121. https://doi.org/10.18043/ncm.81.2.116 

Pietro, S. (2016). Media Guidelines for Kids of All Ages. Child Mind Institute; Child Mind 

Institute. https://childmind.org/article/media-guidelines-for-kids-of-all-ages/ 

‌Social Media Safety | RAINN. (2023). https://www.rainn.org/safe-media 

‌Zapata, M. (2021). 15 Most Dangerous Social Media Challenges to Avoid. 

https://www.familyminded.com/s/dangerous-social-media-challenges-31c1b2b2be14413b