Why very young children should not be on social media – Mint Lounge

By ANI LAST UPDATED 30.10.2021  |  11:30 AM IST No, don’t give your young children phones even if they ask for them. The findings of a new study suggest that using Instagram or Snapchat before age 11 was significantly related to more problematic digital behaviours compared to those who joined these platforms when they were older. The study published in Computers in Human Behavior also found that parental restrictions on phone use and checking social media ameliorated some of the negative effects. “Social media sites all require a minimum age of 13 to register, but the reality is that many users are younger than that: one-third of our sample had already started using social media at age 11 or 12 and another one-third had begun at age 10 or younger,” said the study’s lead author Linda Charmaraman, PhD, director of the Youth, Media and Wellbeing Research Lab at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW). “This study helps us understand the risks and benefits for kids and tweens so that parents and policymakers can make decisions that prioritize their wellbeing.” Also read: How doing HIIT helped me train for my Himalayan trek Charmaraman and her co-authors surveyed 773 middle schoolers in…
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