There was a surge in social media traffic during the pandemic period as schools and most activities were on lockdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The internet offers children access to several valuable information and endless entertainment, but it comes with some danger. Since most of their learning was done online, there were tendencies for them to deviate to other platforms or websites when not properly supervised, this might have caused social media addiction.
They’ve since then become more active on the internet (this might be as a result of the hybrid learning most schools are practicing), there is every possibility that they will be exposed to some websites or content on social media that could be inappropriate for them. The majority of children use these social media platforms regularly to stay connected with friends and family, enhance their creativity by exploring new ideas or composing songs, meet and interact with kids of similar interests.
The list of the benefits is enormous but the disadvantages of social media addiction among children have become a growing concern among parents, educators, and society at large.
Disadvantages of Social Media Addiction in Children
Most of the side effects discussed here are not just mere hearsay by people or generalization of what most think. There are proven findings that have shown and confirmed children fall prey to the points being discussed. Here are some of the side effects of social media addiction:
1. Poor Mental Health
As we all know that health is wealth, so the more reason for this first point. Children who spend more hours each school day on social media sites are more than twice as likely to suffer poor mental health. This is attributed to an increase in social comparison, cyberbullying, isolation, decrease in real life and face-to-face activities.
2. Sleeping Disorder & Insomnia
This happens because they are so glued to checking their social media always and this affects their sleep. Sleep is essential for healthy life development in the young brain and when there is inadequacy in their sleeping, it could cause headaches and reduce their efficiency.
3. Reduction in Social Skills
Addiction to social media for social interaction reduces time spent in developing social skills and learning to read non-verbal cues, which is essential for understanding the emotions of other people. Reduction in social skills results in a decrease in empathy and an increase in narcissism (love of oneself).
Read More: The Internet has its Negative Impact
4. Fear of missing out (FOMO)
When they begin to nurse the fear of missing out on viral social media trends, memes, and jokes, it could lead to depression and anxiety. This is quite prevalent in teenagers and youths of today.
5. Bad Influence
Social media is a wide platform that accommodates different individuals from numerous backgrounds and behavior, so there is every possibility that children could easily be influenced wrongly.
6. Stress
Compared to kids who spend less time on social media, kids who spend more time on social media are regularly stressed up, even without being actively involved in any physically strenuous activity.
Helping your children curb social media addiction will help them in the future because most jobs are now technology-driven, and some tasks must be done online without distractions.
