Long Term Effects of Social Media And Its Impact On Children's Behavioral And Mental Health - Research Paper Example

?Introduction We are living in a hyperactive world of internet and social media wherein young as well as adults actually experience new realities through the virtual world of social media. Social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram and other services are now extensively being used by the youth to stay connected with their friends and share their daily lives. Social Media sites and services are mostly used by the young people and these habits play an important role in the lives of young children. With more and more children aged between 13-17 years old using social media, the overall incidence of the use of social media is on the rise. The average time spent by the youth and children often uses 2 hours per day and this use is on the rise. However, if the use is sustained over the period of time, it may result into serious health related issues. Though social media and its use offer lot of opportunities for young children as well as growing teens however, excessive use of the social media has its risks also. Extensive and sustained use of social media actually presents health related issues. Though the research studies on the use of social media and its impact specially on children is still relatively new however, a growing body of evidence suggests that its use can cause physical as well as mental health issues for the children. This paper will discuss and explore the issue of the long term use of social media and its impact on the mental and physical health of the children. Social Media and behavioral and mental health of Children Social media has been dubbed as the new revolution as it not only connects billions of people with each other but is also considered as an important agent of change. Besides serving as a tool to connect with each other, social media also is considered as a learning tool wherein children and adolescents experience new realities as well as new dimensions of living better life. However, there is an increasing level of scientific evidence which is clearly establishing the fact that the learning and development of children amid the use of social media may be markedly different than their parents. (Collier) The phenomenon of partial attention is considered as an important aspect of how children actually behave while using the entertainment media. It has been suggested that on average children use almost 11 hours a day using the entertainment media and as such while using other forms of entertainment i.e. TV, children also engage into activities like texting while watching TV. This however, result into division of attention and may have an impact on the learning and cognitive abilities of the children. A study on the cognitive abilities of the person suggested that those participants who were good at multi-tasking while using media performed badly as compared to the persons who could not perform better at doing multi-tasking while using the media. The study concluded that those who are quick at media multitasking can actually get distracted very easily. (Kirkorian, Wartella and Anderson) Some studies suggest that too much of the hypertexting through social media websites and use of multimedia contents can actually result into a fundamental change in the way our brains work. The hyper texting as well as the use of multimedia results into limited attention span in children besides child also experience poor focus, low level of comprehension as well as depression and long term memory damage. (Conley) The above study clearly identifies that a sustained use of social media and even other entertainment tools can actually damage the cognitive and behavioral abilities of the children. It is also because of this reason that new guidelines are emerging which focus on restricting the use of electronics within the rooms of the children. It is now suggested that laptops as well as smartphones shall be removed from the rooms of children especially during night time. By restricting the access of children to electronics in general actually can help reduce the number of hours children actually expose themselves to any form of media and social networking services accessed through smartphones and laptops. The observed behavior of children on the social media also suggests that due to lack of their emotional development as well as social inexperience, children often reveal more about themselves and later on regret it. The immediacy of the social media actually put children to commit to things which may not be entirely relevant to them and may be detrimental for them in the long run. Teenagers specially using the social media websites often show what is called narcissist tendencies whereas youngsters show even further signs of psychological disorder including aggressive behavior, antisocial tendencies as well as mania. This study suggests that a sustained use of social media or any technology actually make children more vulnerable to psychological disorders and create other aggressive tendencies in them. Such excessive use therefore can further result into creation of behavioral as well as psychological disorders as children grow old. Other health problems can recur in such children as they grow old and thus make them more vulnerable to physical health issues also. Studies also clearly suggest that children and toddlers under the age of 2 can actually learn better from the real life experiences rather than exposing them to television and other learning media. (Atwal) It is also important to note that some studies have also suggested that the use of Facebook improves the verbal ability of the children. Checking the status of friends on Facebook and other activities actually result into better spelling, working memory as well as an improved verbal ability. This study however, suggested that students using Facebook only shows such improved ability as compared to the use of YouTube. This suggests that the extensive use of multi-media contents specially may further damage the verbal as well as other capabilities of the children whereas checking messages and statuses on Facebook may improve the verbal ability of children. This study however, is relatively different in nature and suggests that children using Facebook for more than one year actually show an improved performance on some of the tests however, exposure to multimedia contents may have a negative impact. (Allowaya, Hortona and Alloway) It is therefore clearly established that the extensive and sustained use of social media may have a negative impact on the psychological as well as mental health of the children. The overall problem may further worsen as the children grow old and become further engaged into the sustained use of social media. Parents therefore need to monitor the activities of their children from multiple perspectives and shall not limit it to knowing that their children shall not be exposed to age-restricted material on internet. Parents also need to restrict the sustained use of the social media and other entertainment tools itself because mere use of the same may have a negative impact on the psychological and mental health of the children. Conclusion Long term use of social media may have negative as well as positive impacts on the psychological as well as mental abilities of the children. A sustained long term use of social media may result into more aggressive behavior in children including anti-social behaviors, mania as well as memory loss. Studies however, also suggest that use of Facebook may also result into improved verbal abilities. However, this advantage may not be available if children are using websites like YouTube suggesting that exposure to the multimedia contents can have further damaging effect on the children and their mental abilities. Works Cited Allowaya, Tracy Packiam, et al. "Social networking sites and cognitive abilities: Do they make you smarter?" Computers & Education 63 (2013): 10-16. Atwal, Andrew. Social Media Use Can Lead to Mental Health Problems. 11 August 2011. 29 November 2013 . Collier, Roger. "Social media and mental health." Canadian Medical Association Journal 185.12 (2013): E577. Conley, Dalton. Wired for Distraction: Kids and Social Media. 19 March 2011. 30 November 2013 . Kirkorian, Heather L., Ellen A. Wartella and Daniel R. Anderson. Media and Young Children’s Learning. 2008. 30 November 2013 . Read More