Influence of Social Media on Kids Today

Influence of Social Media on Kids Today
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Introduction
Most children and young adults are using social media. Social media positively impacts the lives of children and adolescents in different dimensions. Children live in times when connections and interactions with peers are increasingly essential, and social media offers instant social connections. Social media also helps children create groups, stay connected to their friends in far locations, and offers a site to obtain social support. It provides valuable connections to one's friends and peers. Research indicates that 45 percent of adolescents reported using social media "almost constantly," while 44 percent said they used the platforms many times on a daily basis (Mir et al., 2023). Based on these statistics, experts are questioning whether social media usage potentiates detrimental health outcomes in adolescents and young children. Although social media allows children to connect and reach out to others, it invokes undesirable feelings. The increase in the frequency of social media use in children and adolescents is attributed to the rising prevalence of mental illness and deteriorated physical health in these populations (Sedgwick et al., 2019). There is also a correlation between social medial use and depression among adolescents (Boer et al., 2020). This paper delineates the study's research questions and, the guiding theoretical framework, the research methods, and concludes that there is the possibility of a correlation between social media usage frequency and mental or physical health outcomes in adolescent users.
Research Questions/Hypotheses
The study will embrace the Ecological Model as the guiding theoretical framework. Urie Bronfenbrenner created this theory in 1979. In this framework, Bronfenbrenner established five dimensions that impact a person's behavioral tendencies across their lifespan: chronosystem, macro-system, exo-system, mesosystem, and micro-system. The micro-system encompasses factors at a personal level; the exo-system explains community variables such as neighborhood and workplace; the macro-system deals with factors such as social media and policy; the mesosystem pertains to variables at the school/family level (Koehler & Parrell, 2020). The Ecological Model is also known as Systems Theory in social work. The systems theory framework in mental/physical health can offer critical information about a child's motivations and emotions linked to system dynamics. This approach provides significant insights into how a child's behavior is shaped by the social media system or the larger social landscape (Koehler & Parrell, 2020). This framework will also inform research by exploring social media usage as a system component that can impact mental and physical health manifestations and behaviors. This theory will also explain any correlation between constant social media usage and physical/psychological health.
Exploring the Systems viewpoint via mental health practitioners, this model explains the need to understand the influencing variables social systems might have on children. Using the systems approach in treating physical and mental heal...