Social media is growing every day. We have seen the harm it can cause to people’s careers, their families, and even their entire lives. As the years continue, the more harm it causes. But how is it corrupting the younger generation? Dive in and find out.
On average, early-age children ages 7-12 spend four to six hours online. Using screens and watching, they have access to almost anything without a parental block. But what about screens that can’t block everything? For many school districts, students don’t have access to social media sites directly but they do have access to one of the biggest and most popular with children, Youtube. Youtube grows every day with new videos, new channels, and new fears. For many children, some searches contain Friday Night at Freddy’s, Poppy Playtime, or parodies of popular children’s shows such as Peppa Pig, and some Disney and Nickelodeon shows. Oftentimes within Youtube Kids, you can control the searches but for computers within schools, it’s much more difficult. Take the Renton School District for example, other sites are blocked but Youtube isn’t due to the board fighting against banning it for educational purposes. Which could work with desktops at school but not for computers that they get to take home. Most are either unsupervised or parents aren’t home to be sure that they are looking up inappropriate content, and unless the parents fight back against districts, such as the Renton district, there won’t be a way to protect them from view.
Seattle Public Schools, however, have been taking a stand against having access to social media websites as a whole. As of January 6th of this year, the Seattle Public Schools District has made a stand and filed a complaint against Instagram, Tiktok, Snapchat, Facebook, and Youtube. They’ve also been able to get Kent School District on board as well, filing a complaint against the companies. The complaint has been made due to the effect these companies have had on children’s mental and emotional behavior. Threats, disrespect, self-harm, targeting, etc., the list goes on and on. But when is it enough? When a child passes from suicide? When a child is targeted and jumped? We’ve already seen that from news stations within middle and high schools. But with younger and younger students having access to screens while unsupervised, anything could happen and almost anything could be viewed.
The issue comes down to the strange accounts that continue to make these videos. Most don’t actually have a real person as their profile picture so parents can’t even determine if it’s either a child or a deranged adult who enjoys making these videos. It’s clear that without proper legal action and actually knowing where exactly the videos are coming from, parents and school employees can’t do much. Plus there’s the issue of videos slipping through the cracks of the algorithm. It’s up to parents, families, and the rest of the child’s village to steer them clear of these videos and focus on more that can help them with their future. Instead of harming it and putting them in fear. Listed below are the average times from Headphones Addict, AACAP(American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), Seattle Public School’s complaint, and CBS’s report on the matter. How will you help the youth in your life focus on more that will help build them up versus bringing them down?
Screen Time and Children
18+ Teen and Kids Screen Time Statistics
Youtube Kids app and disturbing content CBS News
