Media is Toxic for Millions of Children: Should There be Time Limits?
American youth are captivated by electronics — T.V., movies, video games, music, and social media. Social media has many advantages, including the ability to connect with others, as a learning tool, and for access to favored music and chat rooms. But, like many other newer advances, there are many pitfalls when over or inappropriately used. The time spent is enormous; it increased considerably during the pandemic because of school closures and surprisingly has continued to rise post-pandemic (Ref.1,2).
It is dumbfounding how much time children spend searching various social media sites on their “smart” phones. Most spend more than five hours on social media or playing video games daily. Thirty-two percent of teens surveyed said they were online for 5 to 6 hours, 17 percent reported being online for 7 to 8 hours, and 13 percent said they were online nine or more hours a day (Ref.3). Use begins as young as eight years of age (Ref.4). Another site reports that in 2022, U.S. children each day spend on average, 113 minutes on TikTok, 90 minutes on Snapchat, 20 on Pinterest, and ten on Twitter (Ref.5).
The creators of this electronic media are in business to make a profit, mostly from advertising and fees. The more time spent, the more transfixed, the greater the profit. Thus, these companies use every means possible to keep children on their sites as long as possible. We are learning that the content can be harmful, and normal psychological development can be impaired. There is evidence that the dramatic increase in gender dysphoria occurred as social media use increased, especially among young girls (Ref.6,7).
It is known that electronic media can have many other serious, deleterious effects, such as reducing face-to-face interactions, increasing the need for attention, and neglecting important responsibilities, such as concentrating on schoolwork. There is also an increasing risk of serious depression and suicide, failure of relationships, suppression of creativity, cyberbullying, reduced self-esteem, and sleep deprivation (Ref.8, 9,10).
The evidence is overwhelming that social media impedes many American children’s emotional and cognitive development. It would be beneficial if Congress addressed this problem by having media corporations enforce time limits on tweens and teen use. However, this issue is too important for the nation to wait for our political leaders to act.
Each child is unique, but varying degrees of parental oversight are needed for ALL children. Parents will have to set time limits and supervise content. A reasonable time limit for ages 8-12 is 1 hour per day, which could be liberalized to 2 hours for ages 13-18.
With all its advantages, electronic media is fraught with dangers for normal childhood social-psychological development. It must be carefully monitored to promote its benefits while eliminating negative effects.
- Victoria Rideout, Alanna Peebles, Supreet Mann & Michael Robb, The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens, Common Sense, 2021, available at: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/8-18-census-integrated-report-final-web_0.pdf
2. Arianna Prothero, Kid’s Screen Time Rose During the Pandemic and Stayed High, That’s a Problem, Education Week, February 28, 2023, available at: https://www.edweek.org/leadership/kids-screen-time-rose-during-the-pandemic-and-stayed-high-thats-a-problem/2023/02
3. Kathryn Robinson, Survey : Most kids spend more than 5 hours a day on social media or video games, Local12, WKRC, November 28, 2022, available at: https://local12.com/news/local/survey-most-kids-spend-more-than-5-hours-a-day-on-social-media-or-video-games
4. Melinda Wenner Moyer, Kids as Young as 8 Are Using Social Media More than Ever, Study Finds: The report highlights 17 percent increase in screen use among teens and tweens in the last two years – more than in the four years prior, The New York Times, March 24, 2022, available at:https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/well/family/child-social-media-use.html
5. L. Ceci, Average daily time spent by children in the United States on leading social media apps in 2022, Statista, February 16, 2023, available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1301888/us-time-spent-by-children-on-social-media-apps/
6. Julie Jargon, When Teens Question Their Gender, Social Media Can Provide Support – and Pressure, WSJ, October 23, 2021, available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-teens-question-their-gender-social-media-can-provide-supportand-pressure-11634994000
7. Jon Haidt, Why the Mental Health of Liberal Girls Sank First and Fastest: We are a decade into the largest epidemic of adolescent mental illness ever recorded. It’s time we started treating social media like automobiles and firearms, The Free Press, March 13, 2023, available at:https://www.thefp.com/p/why-the-mental-health-of-liberal
8. Amanda Rife, 10 Negative Effects of Social Media That Can Harm Your Life, Life Hack, November 3, 2022, available at: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/you-should-aware-these-10-effects-social-media-you.html
9. Denise Doherty, 10 Negative Effects of Social Media You Should Know About, Utopia, February 27, 2023, available at: https://utopia.org/guide/10-negative-effects-of-social-media-you-should-know-about/
10. Anne Marie Albano, Is Social Media Threatening Teens’ Mental Health and Well-being?, Columbia University, May 20, 2021, available at: https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/social-media-threatening-teens-mental-health-and-well-being
While I agree with you that social media is a huge problem with our children, I don’t want the government anywhere near it. Time spent is such a relative construct, and many educational activities can be done online. Regulation would be difficult and expensive. Who’s really using Mom’s account? No; electronic use should be decided by the parents, not the state or the feds.