Thomas Zickler

Professor Padgett
Writing Inquiry in Academic Contexts II
7 April 2014
Children and Social Media Research Paper
Computers used to be rare and expensive, but now computers can be found in
every home. With computers becoming more and more popular people are starting to use
them at younger and younger ages. People of all ages are using computers for many
purposes; this includes young children using them for different social applications. Not
every thing involving computers and social medias are bad, especially for children whose
parents are involved in their lives, the benefits out way the consequences. Social medias
allow children to more easily communicate with their peers from school, and people of
their age from all around the world, it also allows them to not feel so alone, while also
allowing them to spend more time with each other in the real world.
The first thing I will do is talk about the possible negative affects of children
using social media to get them out in the open, then in the next paragraph I will talk about
how they should be handled and what can be done to fight against them. There are
negatives to social media use for children, and every one knows about them. The first and
most evident examples are online predators looking to lure children it is believed that
more than half a million pedophiles are online every day(Weber, Lisa). This problem is
evident in the show To Catch A Predator was about. For those who are not familiar with
the show is about a crew of people pretending to be a child to lure young children to a
house, with the adults looking for sexual relation with the children. Then when the adults

come Chris Hansen confronts them to talk to them, each segment end with the predator
getting arrested. The next area where social media can be harmful to children is through
cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is when some one is bullied online through the computer.
Cyber bullying can harm a child emotionally and hard their self-esteem. Where as before
the Internet if a child was bullied they could go home an get away from it all, now a days
if they can even be bullied in the comforts of their own home. Other people have also
raised the question if children using the Internet and social medias will expose them at a
younger age to sex and drugs, which will make them, want to experiment with sex and
drugs may be unduly influenced by Web sites promoting drugs or sex(McBride, DL). I
disagree with this statement, since just because a child is exposed to something does not
mean they will do it, and children now a days are already exposed to sex and drugs with
television, so what difference would the internet make.
In this paragraph I will discuss what should be done to prevent these problems
that I discussed in the last paragraph. The solutions to these problems are simple, and it is
better parenting. A parent should be involved in a childs life, and be aware of what they
are doing. So why should this be any different with them using the computer and
different social medias (Padilla-Walker, Laura M). In order for a child to be able to
experience and take advantage of the great social and education value that the Internet is
their parents should first explain and educate their child on what they can and can not do
on the internet, and to warn them about the dangers that can be found there. But the
parenting should not stop there, parents have a lot of tools at their disposal to help them
keep their children safe, such as blockers, and filters. But parents should not solely rely
on those additions to protect their child. They should also monitor what they do on the
Internet. When it comes down to it while all of the problems with social media wont be
solved by parents taking an interest in their childs life and educating and protecting them,
it will solve most of the problems. With good parenting children will be able to take
advantage of all of the benefits that are unique to the Internet that I will explain later on
in the paper.
The first benefit that I will bring up involving social media is it allows children to
communicate with other children their own age from around the world. The Internet is
the first and only thing that lets children interact with others fast and easily. There is
nothing else that will allow them to do this, which will let them learn about other
countries and cultures first hand through the people who actually live there (STROM,
PARIS, and ROBERT STROM). Children talking to people from that foreign country,
will give them a better perspective of what it is like for other people from all over the
world, better than a book or a teacher ever could. Todays children are the first generation
who will have the opportunity to grow up with this technology, and being able to
communicate with others their own age will give them a better understanding of what is
going on in the world, and what other people from other areas have to deal with on a
daily basis.
Social medias also allows children to communicate with their peers that they
know from school and other places. Having the opportunity to be able to easily
communicate with each other they can share their different viewpoints and ideas all from
the comfort of their own home, it also allows them to maintain contact and conversation
from school at home. Social media also allows children to keep in touch with their friends
such as when they move, so even in their new town or state they will still not feel alone

since they can still communicate with all of their old friends (STROM, PARIS, and
ROBERT STROM). I have lived in five different states so far in my life, so I can attest to
the fact that social media makes it not just easier but it makes it possible to keep up with
old friends. If it were not for websites like Facebook, I do not feel I would be able to
maintain my friendships with so many people whole I have not seen in many years with
out its aide.
I think that social media is very beneficial for children, because they use it not to
replace real life, but to help enhance it. Unlike older people who use social media mainly
for keeping up with friends and family who are far away from them and mainly looking
at pictures of those who they do not see every day, younger people use social media to
talk to their friends from school and other places, and to help them arrange locations and
times to actually see each other (Hilsen, Anne, and Tove Helvik). I can also attest to this
being true with my own experiences, with moving so many times, and having friends in
so many different places, I will sometimes find my self in the different states I have
formerly lived in. While I am in my old towns, I will message some of my old friends and
I will be able to see them again and hang out with them. With out social media their
would be no way for that to be possible, between all of the times phone numbers change
and people move, it would be simply impossible to keep in touch and organize places to
meet up with each other after not seeing each other for many years in some cases.
Social media has many benefits for children while they are growing up, and these
benefits will last them their entire lives. While there are negatives to it such as cyber
bullying, and online predators proper parenting, and education can prevent them. But
isnt their risks to most things children do any ways, and allowing children to use social
media out weighs the possible risks by and allowing children to experience all of the
benefits social media has to offer such as being able communicate with people from
different cultures, talk to their friend at home and not feel so alone, and arrange times and
places to actually see each other.


Work Cited

STROM, PARIS, and ROBERT STROM. "Growing Up With Social Networks And
Online Communities." Education Digest 78.1 (2012): 48-51. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.

Padilla-Walker, Laura M., et al. "Parents And Adolescents Growing Up In The Digital
Age: Latent Growth Curve Analysis Of Proactive Media Monitoring." Journal Of
Adolescence 35.5 (2012): 1153-1165. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Feb.
2014.

Hilsen, Anne, and Tove Helvik. "The Construction Of Self In Social Medias, Such As
Facebook." AI & Society 29.1 (2014): 3-10. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23
Feb. 2014.

Weber, Lisa. "How Social Networks Affect Underage Kids." Everyday Life. Demand
Media, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.

McBride, DL. "Risks and Benefits of Social Media for Children and Adolescents."
Journal of Pediatric Nursing. 26.5 (2011): 498-9. Print.