EFFECT OF USING MEDIA ON

CHILDERN
Argumentative essay

Ghada Mohamed Mohamed Ibrahim -ESL 65H

 Living in the modern era makes social media become part of our life. Not only is it
an important part of socialization within peer groups , but also now it is used to market
and motivate people to become a part of larger community .social media are forms of
electronic communication (as websites for social networking and microblogging) through
which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages,
and other content . People use many social media nowadays such as Instagram,
Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Path, and others. Most of people probably have two or
more social media’s accounts. Adults and adolescents mostly use social media.
However, many children already use social media. Based on the Children’s Online
Privacy Protection Act, children under 13 years are not allowed to use social media. It
can give bad impact for the children who actively use it.

The first bad impact is the children can easily access to bad and inappropriate
contents. In social media, there are many kinds of content that can easily be accessed.
However, several contents are not appropriate for the children to see. The inappropriate
contents such as contents that showing criminal acts, violence and pornography. The
children might not intentionally access to those kind of contents. The contents might
suddenly appear while the children are using their social media. Those kind of contents
can give bad influence to the children because they are easily to absorb. While parents
are allowing their children to use social media without supervision, they should not be
permitted to. In modern day, cyber bullying is hard to control even when the parent
monitors their child’s behavior online. Suicide is a result of it, along with anxiety,
depression, and isolationism(Kowalski,2009) . Embarrassing photos or messages are
sent on the child’s account from the hacker. The child will meet a dangerous person
online. Children who are not aware of the consequences of their actions should not be
online.

Social media can affect the mental health of children and teens; the level of effect,
according to the research seems to go up as they goes up. Their level of contentment
can decrease, and their likelihood of getting into trouble or being depressed can
increase (Rideout, 2010), also who use social media tend to be more aggressive,
antisocial, and narcissistic (Rosen, 2011), although it provide an opportunity for them to
connect and share similar interests. Many young online users are lured by online sexual
predators (Ybarra, 2007). The problem concerning privacy issues is that many children
are unware of the privacy policies on the social media website they use (Cox, 2007)

Many children and adolescents are influenced by the powerful advertising that
shown on the social media sites and it is strongly influence their buying habits. Many of
them are not aware that they are individually targeted because the site keep track of
their habits and attitudes. These young people and their parents need to be aware of
how they targeted so smarter choices that be made around their spending habits (Clark

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–Pearson-O’keefee, 2011), social media should be used in moderation, studies have
shown that children and adolescents who are on Facebook too much have lower grades
( Rosen , 2011) Young teens must learn not everything they hear or see is true.

The age that parents allow their children to use social media technologies is
falling at an alarming rate, and this is taking place in and out of the home. Because of
technology, many great things are being accomplished. Computers are used in schools
across the globe to teach. ”Through the power of networking, boundaries for learning
are disappearing as both teachers and students are able to communicate, plan lessons,
execute projects, share work, and forge new friendships and understanding across
school districts, states, and countries” (Rusten). The advantages of technology cannot
be denied but the price on childhood development is still high.

Fake news websites are broadly common, publishing lies and fabricated news.
Media has a negative impact on children’s values and opinions because it shows
unrealistic body expectations, creates addiction, and makes everything commercialized.
to decrease the negative influence the media has on children they must learn the
difference between reality and the media, children need to watch less TV, and families
need to show alternatives to the media. Such as do exercises and activities. According
to Jefferey Johnson and others in their article “Television Viewing and Aggressive
Behavior During Adolescence and Adulthood” it is stated, “Television viewing and
aggressive behavior were assessed over a 17-year interval in a community sample of
707 individuals. There was a significant association between the amount of time spent
watching television during adolescence and early adulthood and the likelihood of
subsequent aggressive acts against others.” However, some parents make TV viewing
off-limits during the school week, except for special programs that are agreed to ahead
of time. This solution is not the best either because it is impossible to protect children
entirely from the media and banning TV entirely may only strengthen its appeal to them.

The best solution is to model alternative forms of entertainment. Parents who

turn off the TV or computer and engage in conversation, sports, games or other
activities are showing alternatives to their children. Recommendations to discourage
media exposure for children younger than 2 years, which showed that in-person
interactions with parents are much more effective than video for learning of new verbal
or nonverbal problem-solving skills.

In conclusion, Children must understand reality versus the media and watch less
television. Parents need to model the other forms of entertainment. The media is not
going to go away, but the amount of reliability children and adults have on it can
change.

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References:
https://www.ipl.org/essay/Negative-Effects-Of-Social-Media-On-Children-FKAZFUHEACF6

https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/the-effects-of-social-media-on-children/

https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Social-Medias-Effect-on-Children-FKCVSR4ZVJ

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/media/impacts-of-the-media-on-children.php

https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=effect+of+the+social+media+on+childern+&ipp=20

https://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=028d48b7-d5e7-4793-8154-
b7b1b377bf98%40sdc-v-sessmgr02&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
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