Introduction

With people all over the internet 92% of the internet is filled with kids aging 11 - 13 years old. While only 8% of the internet is either older or younger. With that information, that shows that most 11 - 13 year olds are probably on the internet. And one of the biggest and scariest parts of the internet is Social Media. Yes it may be good to get some good information but also holds a threat to these children because of predators and cyberbullying, which effects many kids every year and even causes suicide. So to beg the question, Should kids be on Social Media?

The Upsides

There are some good effects of letting kids on social media, whether they see a cute little doggy photo, or learn something very cool, or helpful! There is some good effects of letting your kids on social media, Lets go over them

1. Your kid can stumble across educational videos

2. You might need a break so you turn on YouTube for your kid to be entertained so the kid doesn't bother you

3.  They might find out about a big issue, and might want to start helping stop that issue,

The list goes on, but, there are some downsides, some very bad ones

The Downsides

There are many downsides on letting your kids on using the internet. Maybe they go on a website they shouldn't have of, or find innapropariate content for their age. In fact, Over 80% of the kids who use social media lie about their age, which allows them to access websites they either arent allowed on or against the websites policies. You might be wondering, "Is it really that simple to lie about your age?" and the simple answer to that is yes, all a kid has to do is set a fake birthday (ex, 1/1/1999) and then they're in. This might not seem bad but it is. They could also be seen to cyberbullying, or even be one themself! Cyberbullying is a issue across the world, all you need to do to cyberbully is go into some videos comment section and say mean things that arent true. There are still many downsides, but it is time for us to see if we think your child should be on Social Media.

What do we think?

After seeing all these upsides and downsides, we personally think your child should not be on social media until they are a teen. It's the standard for most social media sites anyway. Use TikTok as an example, on the app, you must be 13 or older to be able to use the app, and if you are under 18 you have restricted abilities. And some social media sites even require you to be 18 or older, so we think its best if we have your 11 or 12 year old stay off of social media.