Parents view on social media

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Introduction

Social media is a tool that was created by Six Degrees, made by Andrew Weinreich in 1997. A technology that was later made popular by of the websites like Facebook and Myspace. Social media is a way to connect users across the planet, who enjoy the same activities, Ideas or political images to discuss their experiences and opinions from anywhere in the world.

Where Sources are From

Parents from across the world were interviewed to find out their own opinions on social media along with some more reputable sources from across the internet, in order to create a reputable research paper.

Parents Definition of Social Media

Firstly Parents were asked what they thought social media was. The first set of parents described social media as "social media as a way for people from all over the world to connect to each other through one central network. It’s a way we can share our experiences and emotions with other people." Some would define social media as an interactive technology that allows people and groups to interact through apps and platforms on various devices and a way to connect with people. With these apps, they overall view social media as a daily distraction to life. The more parents were interviewed, a clearer picture was formed "Social media can be defined as the applications and websites that allow individuals to connect with each other. It allows people to keep up with their friends, their favorite celebrities, or random people that they have never met." The majority of parents have a general consensus of what social media is but most of them do not have a positive relationship with social media and see it as more of a distraction than anything positive.

How does social media affect your daily life?

Opinions

"I don't really get affected by social media because I do not use it at all. I feel that it is better for me to not even pay it any attention because of all the propaganda and useless content that is on there. I respect my privacy and do not want to portray my whole life for everyone to see."

"I choose to not be active in any social media, mostly because I value privacy and in person connection"

"I use social media to catch up on recent events, stay in touch with people I cares about, and remain on top of current trends. In addition, as an author, I am required by my publisher to have a social media presence."

"I tend to use social media more than my husband does because I like to keep in touch with my friends and family and know what is going on in their lives."

"I own a small business so social media is sort of my best friend and my worst enemy. I need social media to advertise my business, but I don’t enjoy having to post every single day to keep my following engaged, it can be quite exhausting."

Reflection

The majority of parents use social media as a way to connect with friends and family, or for business related reasons. Parents aren't catching up with current trends like TikTok or using filters and hashtags to gain more followers, and are using it for the main reason that it was designed to be used for. To connect users to more users no matter where they are in the world.

Differences in Parent to Child Development

Opinions

Parents were then asked how their own childhood differed from that of their own kids.

"When I was a kid we would play outside constantly because there wasn’t much else to do. My kids were pretty much way too and I tried to facilitate that by making sure they had designated screen time and things like that to help facilitate their imaginations. But now I’ve noticed more and more, how social media has fully taken over their lives, with things like Tik Tok and Instagram being something they’re constantly on. I wish they’d get off their screens more and enjoy the world around them more"

“The biggest difference is the time children spend on social media.  I'm not sure it's healthy or a good use of time,”

"Yes, there is a huge difference in the way we grew up compared to our children. When we were growing up, there were almost no forms of technology, and definitely no social media at all. It made human interactions so different and forced you to go out and meet new people. Nowadays, kids will sit in their room and play video games all day, sometimes going days without seeing another person."

"I used to spend more time outside and hanging out with my friends because we didn’t have social media back then like we do today."

Reflection

The general message was that parents never had social media growing up, and didn't support children coming into contact with it either. Most parents cited playing outside with friends with no screens rarely happens today as most kids have games preloaded on their parent's devices or possibly their own devices as a means of distraction. Social media itself doesn't account for all that children use to distract themselves with but it doesn't help the situation.

Is Social Media a Good or Bad Influence?

Opinions

“Children these days have no privacy, and when mistakes are made, it is possible for those mistakes to stick like glue to that person for their entire life. In my day, we had a reasonable expectation of privacy.”

"I think social media is a little bit of both, it has the potential to be fully positive and be a good platform for expressing creativity and new ideas but gets pulled down with toxic behavior and bullying. So it’s honestly somewhat of a mixed bag."

"Social media is a terrible influence. I worked with middle schoolers and would notice behavior changes in kids because of social media. For example, there was one year where a viral prank was going around; the next few weeks at school were menacing because kids would see this prank and try to mimic it at school. It led to a lot of kids getting in trouble and some even suspended."

" It can have both good or bad influences. It depends on the message or images that you choose to spend your time on and that there are always differences of perspectives, opinions and values online."

Reflections

Parents both agree that social media has the potential fro greatness, but has issues with bullying and inciting kids to do "prank" that can be harmful to their daily lives or get them into trouble. Most parents have a somewhat negative outlook in social media mainly form what they've seen in their kids and the kids around them. Most parents citing that social media is used a a distraction rather than a tool of creativity that it is argued to be used for.

Does Social Media Positively or Negatively Impact the Development of Children?

Opinions

"I think especially right now it doesn’t help the development of children. Constantly I see new parents depending on screens as a way to control their children which has led to more and more young kids becoming too attached to their devices. I also see tons of young kids idolizing Tiktokers and I think that could lead down a dangerous road. "

“In order to answer this properly, I would like a definition of “children.” For elementary and middle school age, it is absolutely a negative. How can parents help nurture confident, compassionate children when social media fights them at every turn? For high school, it is mostly a negative, although I have also seen it used at that age to be kind and supportive."

"I actually had one student come up to me and tell me that he did not feel good enough compared to his friends and other random people he has seen on social media because he did not look as good as them. The problem with social media is that people post their “perfect” photos or ones that are edited and make them look their absolute best. Children and teenagers spend long periods of time just scrolling through pictures of other people while comparing those pictures to themselves. In today’s society, it is all about getting likes or comments and if you do not get as many likes or comments as the next guy, then they feel inadequate."

Reflections

Most parents feel that social media has done nothing to help children and has only helped in negative ways like making kids feel inadequate and undervalued compared to people whoa re better at marketing themselves on social media. Social media has not help kids socially either as they have started ostracizing themselves from other kids who don't have as many followers or as many likes.

Conclusion

Parents have a very negative outlook on what social media's effect has on their children's minds, and would more than likely next time, try to keep their own kids away from the social media in an attempt to give them the same childhood they had growing up. While the outlook on the future of social media looks grim, only time will tell if humanity can fix the dangers of social media or if social media will continue to go spiraling out of control as it always has.

References

• Desk, Web, and Web DeskMaking Digital Information Accessible To The World. Send your news story via this form: https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/p/contact-us.html. “Study Reveals Parents' Top Concerns about Social Media.” Digital Information World, 8 Sept. 2020, https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2020/09/58-percent-of-parents-think-social-media-has-a-net-negative-effect-on-their-teens.html.

• “Social Media: What Parents Should Know.” Caring for Kids, https://www.caringforkids.cps.ca/handouts/behavior-and-development/social_media.

• Parents from Our Class

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