A Call to Action for Children’s Online Exploitation

Post date: May 9, 2025

By Grace Iovine

Approximately 63.9% of the world's population is active on some form of social media. This includes people of all ages using social media. People express their interests, their talents, the good in their lives, and the bad, displaying only what they want people to see. Some posts are genuine, while others are staged, targeting either an older or younger audience. Young children having access to social media negatively affects their brain development, potentially exposing them to harmful content, and even puts them at a higher risk for mental health issues. By no means should children 13 years or younger benefit from having any form of social media, and they should be encouraged to wait until they are older to create any kind of account. 

Social media has been shown to harm children's brain development, leading to mental health issues. The New York Presbyterian Health Matters states that studies have shown that children who frequently check social media have had changes in the part of their brain that controls the social rewards and punishments. Even more studies from this website have shown that there has been an increased prevalence of depression with high levels of social media use in adolescents. These young children don't have to grow up with a need or addiction to these apps and, by extension, technology in general. 

Additionally, it is even directly explained from the The New York Presbyterian Health Matters as well “We know from previous studies that more than 50 percent of kids 4 years and younger are engaging with smartphones or tablets on a regular basis. The “tween” group, ages 8-to-12, spend four to six hours on phones or watching screens. It’s an incredibly important time for them to be spending so much time with two-dimensional relationships as opposed to engaging with people in real life”(Fishman). To have over 50 percent of children who are not even five yet already using technology leaves so much room for error with what they are viewing and the harmful content they can see on social media platforms. 

Furthermore, all things have good and bad perks. That said, social media can serve as a creative outlet for children to express their true selves and connect with others who share similar interests. This helps connect them and makes people feel less alone in this big world. 

However, unfortunately, the good does not outweigh the bad in this case, and exposing these innocent children to social media can leave them at risk for cyberbullying, as well as talking to predators. Adolescents are more likely to fall victim to the 500,000 child predators that can be on these platforms at any given time. 

Consequently, children should focus on the little time that they have to be carefree and not worry about the little things in life that social media draws attention to. Social media corrupts these young developing brains and gives a false sense of how your life should be. We need to protect our youth and drop the screens.