Social media has recently become an inevitable part of growing up.
According to Statista’s report in 2022, over 80% of children in the UK aged 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, or 17 own social media accounts.
We know social media is used by a significant number of children today, but is this completely negative or potentially have some positives?
While it is widely agreed that social media is ‘ruining’ the youth of today, it is surely not all bad?
Well, social media is used for a variety of reasons.
While some might use it to receive news, others will use it to get recommendations for things to do in a certain place.
The diversity of what is available in social media is massive and although it can be used in a bad way with negative consequences, when used and regulated correctly, it can be a good source for information and enjoyment as well as communication.
It is popularly believed that social media is a harmful place and a place where bullying is easy and mental health issues can come about more.
This is somewhat true – according to the NHS, 1 in 8 children between the ages of 11 and 16 that used social media agreed that they have been bullied online, a clear negative of it.
Things such as bullying can lead to further issues, especially with mental health, such as depression, a severe disease which leads to tragic outcomes, such as suicide in some extreme cases.
Now, we can clearly deduce that social media has very negative impacts on children, both physically and mentally, and has been a source of hate and bullying on many occasions.
However, it can be argued that if regulated well and used in the proper and correct way, it could be such a positive thing that people can use for enjoyment purposes as well as information or reviews.
However, it seems unlikely that this will happen anytime soon.
