Social Networking Is Not Safe for Children

Social Networking Is Not Safe for Children

Social networking is ubiquitous in today's culture; even elementary school children operate blogs and join social networking sites such as Facebook. Millions of children place highly personal information on these sites, and spend hours a day interacting with people on social networking sites. While it is true that social networking can sometimes have a positive impact on children's growth and personal development, the time spent on the Internet in relation to social networking is often excessive and impedes children's development in myriad ways; this paper identifies negative effects of social marketing, manifesting in self-esteem problems, children with disabilities, and problems in education.

Social networking often has deleterious effects on children's self-esteem. Facebook, for example, can make children feel as though they have hundreds of "friends." This can create an over-reliance on attention from others, and make it so that children lose the ability to formulate genuine lasting friendships. Facebook may make people feel as though they have many friends, but all the time spent in physical isolation can result in feelings of loneliness, which is injurious to one's self-esteem. Through social networking sites like Facebook, people lose sight of the necessity for interpersonal interaction, erroneously believing that friendships can be maintained through the online medium. The highly public forum of sites like Facebook makes them visible to all of their "friends." Consequently, it is all-too easy for a classmate to post a rude or insulting remark that is visible for everyone to see. Moreover, social networking sites are paradoxically both highly public (everyone in the network can see their profile) yet also very private (the digital context often makes it more difficult for parents to police or protect their children.) For example, a parent may see their child on the computer and assume that they are working on schoolwork or conversing with friends, when in fact they are being bullied. Indeed, according to Andrews (2006), kids often do not inform their parents about their social networking activity, such that they lose a support structure that was previously protecting them. It is also not especially uncommon for children to come into contact with sexual predators; a study from 2005 found that 1 out of every 7 children ages 10 to 17 had been subjected to or participated in sexual overtures (reprinted in Andrews, 2006). Children are at a vulnerable age, and as Mishna, Saini, and Solomon (2009), in many ways it is more dangerous and difficult to police than physical bullying because of the anonymity.

Social networking is also injurious to children with disabilities. The public setting of social networking sites makes such children more readily vulnerable to bullying. Moreover, children with mental disabilities often have difficulty in recognizing the intentions of others, and may misconstrue sarcasm or mockery as a compliment. In this regard, social networking can make children with disabilities more readily susceptible to bullying (with their parents unable to police such activity) and thwart their social development.