Researchers surveyed 773 middle schoolers in the Northeast U.S. about their social media initiation, digital behaviors, and parental restrictions on digital use.
They found that joining social media platforms like Instagram or Snapchat before age 11 was significantly associated with more problematic digital technology behaviors, greater likelihood of online harassment, and sexual harassment victimization.
Some of these effects were lessened when parents restricted phone use and limited how often their kids checked social media.
They also found that regardless of when they joined social media, early adolescents more frequently engaged in positive digital behaviors than negative ones.
And those who joined social media as children (age 10 or younger) demonstrated a greater tendency to engage in supportive or civically-engaged online community behaviors such as socially supportive social media posts, fostering awareness of social issues, or organizing events through social mediaΒcompared to those who joined later.
This may be due to being socialized at a younger age to understand both the positive and negative potential of different platforms.
These findings also suggest that a potential strategy to support families with children, tweens, and teens to keep track of social media sites they have joined an online friend network.
Then set rules about screen use and monitor children’s frequency of checking, particularly if they’re using social media at age 10 and younger.
The research team is also working on a study to determine whether the age at which users join social media has any longer-term effects on their health and wellbeing.
Source: Medindia
