ESLAVA, Kevin February 11, 2019

SALIO-AN, Viebres Position Paper

12 – ICT

Adults Should Limit the Use of Social Media to Children and Teenagers
(A Position Paper)

The more people continue to use the social media, the more it affects their lives.
Technology help us in our daily lives as a contributor for our communication and our need for
information and entertainment. But that doesn’t mean it’s all good and favorable. Social media
had become more dangerous than ever before. Countless time that the news talk about the
dangers behind the social media. And with its causes and effects, isn’t time to rethink how to use
the social media?

The youth are the hope of the next generation and their engagement to social media is
very important. However, with their involvement comes with limitations. Adults should limit the
use of social media to children and teenagers for it leads to addiction, gives bad effects to one’s
behavior and it involves cybercrime. In limiting the use of social media, they can prevent
cybercrime, their bad lifestyle and improves their school performance. They could also save their
money from load expenses and they will maintain a longer sleeping time.

I. The limit of social media is necessary for it leads to addiction, gives bad effects to
behavior and it involves cybercrime.

When it comes to the use of social media, no one is exempted. People all around the
world use social media for their own liking. However, the overuse of social media can lead to
consequences that may harm children and teenagers. Firstly, it leads to addiction. Addiction is
the process of regularly doing something whether it is a strong or a harmful desire. With social
media being able to do a lot of things such as connecting to other people easily and providing
entertainment from movies and music, it causes people to use social media everyday of their life.
In this way, their everyday use can lead to their addiction. Researchers Kuss and Griffiths from
Nottingham Trent University concluded that social media addiction is a mental health problem
that may require professional help (Brown, 2018). Having social media always at the palm of
their hand, they tend to keep on looking and glancing every time. University of Pittsburg found
that it’s not because of how often they logged on or the time they spent on social media that
causes addiction but rather was the obsessive “checking” of their social media accounts (Brown,
2018). These children and teenagers can’t even go to school without the presences of their
phones and other gadgets. It affects their mood and concentration inside school, because all they
think about are their status on social media and if ever someone like their posts. Many young
people have come addicted to social media because they crave the attention that they get from
people online and they can’t wait to like and share the posts of their friends on social media
(Brown, n.d). That’s why, with the limitation of the use of social media, there is a high chance
that children and teenagers won’t be involved in this kind of addiction. Their time checking their
phones will be lessen and they could concentrate more to their studies and other activities in
school and at home.

Second, it gives bad effects to one’s behavior. The exposure of children and teens to the
social media allows them to be involved with different people and their styles. Social media is
also one way where people share their thoughts and opinions. Researchers strongly suggest that
limiting social media use to approximately 30 minutes per day may lead to a significant
improvement in their well- being [ CITATION Dev19 \l 13321 ]. In limiting the use of social media,
children and teenagers can interact with real people in their lives and they won’t suffer from
depression and mood swings. The more they use the social media, the more it causes depression
and low self-esteem. Not getting enough attention is causing them to start to feel depressed, for
they value themselves based on what other people in social media thinks of them (Brown, n.d).
Their online interactions has something to do with their depression. Researchers found higher
levels of depressive symptoms from negative interactions and had causes the feelings of
worthlessness and hopelessness. Other researchers stated that they developed a classifier that can
accurately predict depression before it causes symptoms (Brown, 2018). With the limit use of
social media it can reduce the loneliness, depression and the fear of missing out helping them to
be more productive with their lives.

Lastly, social media is involved with cybercrime. To a child’s thinking capacity, social
media is just for fun, but little do they know a lot of things happen behind the screen.
Cyberbullying as one of them uses the social media to attack specifically these children and
teenagers. Before bullying was done face to face nut now, anybody can be bullied online. And
with their faces hidden behind the screen, they won’t be easily identified. Online attackers would
send these children and teens messages that would hurt them emotionally. They would post
photos about them that may be personal or embarrassing. Cyberbullying often leave a deep
mental scar and even drive people to suicide. And the anonymity of social media provides
perpetrators to gain people’s trust and terrorize them [ CITATION Any18 \l 13321 ]. Because of
social media, people became lazier, antisocial and end up wasting time on games and
chatting[ CITATION Rit11 \l 13321 ]. So if the use of social media is limited, it can avoid their
involvement to cybercrimes such as cyberbullying. These young people won’t be introduced to
inappropriate internet contents and could help they interact with other people.

II. Limiting the use of social media is beneficial in preventing cybercrime, bad habits
and improves school performance.

If the use of social media is limited, it brings benefit to both children and teenagers. One,
it prevents cybercrime. The exposure of children and teenagers to the social media had let them
to be involved or perform cybercrime. There are many internet predators every day that get
acquainted to children and teenagers convincing them to post inappropriate statements and
photos, and making them do illegal actions [ CITATION SHO14 \l 13321 ] . However, with the limit
and use of social media, cybercrime can be avoided. Adults can help against identity theft when
they limit the use of social media, especially preventing their kids to share personal information [
CITATION 11w19 \l 13321 ]. Adults should teach their kids to identify if they are being targeted
with online harassment, stalking or bullying.

Another benefit is preventing children and teenagers from bad habits. As they tend to use
social media, they won’t be able to exercise their body. Excessive screen use can increase the
risk of obesity. The number of time children and teens spend watching and playing add to the
factor of obesity also leading them to take snacks and over eat as much as they watch and play
[ CITATION Why16 \l 13321 ] . . Young people who use the social media shows risky behaviors
toward other people and themselves [ CITATION Why16 \l 13321 ] . They spend time chatting online
rather than having a real time conversation [ CITATION Ana17 \l 13321 ] . And according to Njoroge
(2011) research, social media leads to break ups of relationships and marriages. It benefit these
young people away from negative habits such as vices and self-injuries. It could help them trust
more on those people who are near to them because research says that children and teens who
use the social media tend to choose online communications that may lead to the break ups of
relationships.

Limiting the use of social media also benefit the school performance of their children. It
has been observed that students does not listen in class, they are busy chatting and reading stories
online [ CITATION Ana17 \l 13321 ]. Students who spent more time engaging in these media forms
had fewer academic behaviors, such us completing homework and attending class, lower
academic performance and more problems affecting their school work (Staff Reporter, 2013). It
has been observed that students stick to their gadgets without concentrating on their study and
waste precious on media platforms without gaining anything from it [ CITATION Ana17 \l 13321 ].
That’s why in this case, when we limit the use of social media, we can avoid these kind of
scenario. Children and teens, would be able to control their studies and their use of social media
leading them to do a better school performance.

III. Limited use of social media reduces money expenses and increase sleeping time

Social media are widely used and easily accessible to everyone but in using social media,
it brings a great effect in expenses. Students would want to always be updated from their social
media accounts and would spend just to keep having data for these social media apps on their
phones. According to Arnold (2018), in his research 97% of his respondents averaging at 13 to
18 years old admits that they buy products they see in the social media because they are
affordable. Social media also enticed teenagers to buy products that greatly discounted. It lures
them to buy more and more even it is unnecessary (Marquit, 2016). In limiting the use of social
media to the young people, we could also limit the expenses they spend for their phones and
mobile load. Giving them the chance to save that money to buy important things such as supplies
for school and for their food.

In addition, social media also affects children and teenagers sleeping habits. According to
Brown (2018), the most common cause of the lack of sleep is the more they use their phones as
they lay down in bed, the blue light emitted from the smartphones and laptop screen limit the
production of the hormone melatonin which is needed to facilitate sleep. Social media addiction
also contribute to the lack of sleep of students. The more they keep on staying late facing their
phones and computer, the more restless they feel waking up in the morning. That’s why adults
should make sure that their children stop using any gadget 30 minutes before they sleep to rest
their eyes and would result a much better sleep. With the increases of their sleeping time, they
will be able to wake up more energetic and more productive throughout the day.

In summary, Social media has become an important factor of human interaction, however

it is also a factor of negatively effects for it leads to addiction that causes the children and
teenager’s habits and behavior. Also, social media involves cybercrime that can hurt young
people mentally and emotionally. Limiting the use of social media prevents addiction and
cybercrimes and would benefit these children and teenagers to concentrate on their studies and
would avoid their involvement to the inappropriate contents of the internet. They would also
reduce their expenses in buying stuff for their phones and would extend their sleeping time as
social media is out of the way. Adults can help in doing these for the safety of their children.
Limiting their children use of social media would help them achieve such benefits. It would
guide their children to a much safer side of the internet and would make them guarantee that
their children is safe in internet.
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