Effects of Social Media on Kids
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Effects of Social Media on Kids
Abstract
This article explores the use of the internet and technology by children aged 9-16 from 25 European countries. The survey displays how the children are more involved in entertainment more than in educational matters. Data shows that parents have a responsibility in controlling the activities of their children online. Ethical obligations are also fulfilled in the survey. The survey analysis the children’s use of the internet certain parameters, including access, risk and opportunities, and practices.
Introduction
The use of the internet and technology among European citizens has become part of their daily activities. In this article, the use of the internet and digital technologies by children is presented. The survey is done among children and parents from 25 European countries. The report aims to show both the negative and positive impact of social media on children age 9-16. The survey focuses on the increased use of smartphones and the digital world developments for children, such as Instagram and Tik Tok. The issue of early age usage of the internet by children is also a major concern. The report discusses four major key areas regarding access to social media. Access, where how children access the internet, and for what duration they are connected. Practices and skills demonstrate the activities children do online and any skills they acquire. Risks and opportunities, the dangers exposed to children while accessing the internet are discussed, and the opportunities they encounter there. Social context, here those who affect children’s use of internet use are discussed. 19 countries are involved in the survey. Questionnaires are the main sources for the results. The aim of this report is to monitor online access, risk and opportunities, and practices of European children on the use of the internet.
Methodology.
The report was conducted from 19 European countries surveys based on internet usage among children aged 9-17 years. The overall number of participants was 25,101. The data collection was done between 2017 autumn and 2019 summer. The main methods used were Questionnaires, Sampling, and fieldwork.
The questionnaire
The questionnaire was availed online through the www.eukidsonline.net. There are two types of questions in the questionnaire: the core questions and the optional questions. The core questions carried the survey’s main aim, while the optional question required additional information to support the core one. All the countries’ instructions to tackle are the core questions and then select optional ones to answer. Due to complexity and age difference, the questionnaire had to be simplified in some countries to benefit the younger children.
Sampling and population
The survey aimed at the children age 9-17 who were internet users. Not all countries could collect data from 17 years; hence our report is based mainly on 9 to 16 years. Sampling via households and schools were the two sampling methods used. Each country selected a suitable method depending on the cultural context and the available results. This method effectively provided data according to the child’s age, gender, religion, and whether from urban or rural ((Smahel, 2020). The household sampling took place either through quota sampling, random walk, or random recruitment. Household sampling was used in 9 countries, including Estonia, Italy, Norway, Croatia, France, Lithuania, Germany, Slovakia, and Russia. For school sampling, only those students aged 9-17 who were in the school on the date when the survey was conducted participated. Students with disabilities were not involved in the survey. 10 countries engaged in school sampling. They include; Switzerland, Malta, Czech Republic, Flanders, Poland, Finland, Spain, Romania, Serbia, and Portugal.
Fieldwork
Three major base methods were used for data collection in fieldwork—the CASI, CAPI, and PAPI. The CASI (computer-assisted self-interviewing), here children have been interviewed filled the questionnaires on their own by using their phones or computers through the guidance of interviewers. CAPI (computer-assisted personal interviewing) in this method, only the interviewers possessed the machine. They asked the children questions then ticked the response given. PAPI (paper-assisted personal interviewing) papers with the questions were availed to the children to answer with assistance from the interviewers.
Ethical aspects
In all the involved countries, the questionnaire was based on ethical guidelines. The ethical guidelines confer to the national rules and conditions. The children had to decide on agreeing on the participation in the survey. The legal representatives had to give out permission for the admission of the questionnaire. The children were allowed to be free during the answering of the questionnaire. They could answer the questions they felt free to as well as those they had information about. A conducive environment was provided to the participants during data collection through the maximization of anonymity.
Results
The aim of the report is in the findings of the involved countries but not in their comparison. The results are grouped regarding access, practices and skills, risks and opportunities, and social context.
Access
For children to participate in social media use, they ought to have the means of accessing it. Here how children access technology and the time they spent online is evaluated.
Devices: smartphones were evidenced to be the main means by which children accessed the internet (Heid, 2017). Most children aged 9-16 possessed smartphones. Due to the portability and personality, they are used in various activities on the internet. The question of how often they used certain devices to use the internet was the following; smartphones were majorly used in most countries. The computer was the next used device (Ravalli, 2016). The third device was a tablet, whereby in the countries involved, less than one in every four children used it. In some other countries, children used smart TVs and games console. The smallest percentage as those who accessed the internet using smart toys and wearable devices.
Table 1: Daily use of different devices by county
Time spent online: the presence of smartphones has enabled children to access the internet anytime and anywhere. Estimating the time children use the internet has been made complicated. The children were asked to provide information on how much time they spent online on weekends and weekdays. Time children spent online ranged from 134 in Switzerland to 219 in Norway. The time boys and girls spent online differs. Boys tend to stay online for more than girls. Age also differentiated the time children stayed online. The old children stayed online longer than the younger ones.
Practices and skills.
The survey was more about what children do online and the skills to help them determine the internet’s proper use. The survey captured three major activities children do online. They include; education, entertainment, and socializing. The survey inquired children on how they had participated in different activities. The results below emerged. Watching videos online ranged from 43% in Slovakia to 82% in Lithuania. Listening to music online ranged from 45% in Germany to 81% in Serbia (Smahel, 2020). Communication via the internet ranged between 14% in Germany to 77% in Romania. Socializing ranged between 385 in Spain to 73% in Serbia. Children playing online games ranged between 27% Slovakia to 71% Lithuania. Schooling purposes ranged from 16% Poland to 46% in Lithuania. Online shopping ranged from 8% in Germany to 41% in Romania. Reading and watching news ranged from 9% in Germany to 39% in Lithuania.
Table 2: Daily online activities by country
Risk and opportunities
The results here show children’s involvement in the activities selected and both the positive and negative effects they experience online. For evidence of negative online experiences, the children provided different answers to whether they had been upset or bothered by anything that happened online. The number that responded to behave bothered by something online varied between 7% in Slovakia and 45% in Malta. The percentage of boys who were upset online was smaller than that of girls. It ranged between 6% Slovakia to 39% Malta while girls were from 8% Slovakia to 52% Malta. Children of the oldest age are reported to have experienced more negative online effects than younger ones. Children encounter online include; their devices getting virus or spyware, bullying, data misuse, sexting, and seeing sexual messages.
Social context
As children are growing, they are controlled by parents at home while in schools, the teachers are their influential actors. Due to the new technology and increased use of social media, children no longer encounter their actors face to face. Everything has turned to be online. The survey aimed at aspects such as mediation, sharenting, and the perception children have on those they interact with online. Mediation is based on attempts to influence children in a manner in which they should use the internet to be of benefit to them than harm. Parental mediation is important in helping children to reduce risks and maximize opportunities. Active mediation is essential in talking with children about what they do online. Sharenting aims at parents providing advice to children at an online level (Choi, 2018).
Table 3: show often, parents talk about internet use with their children.
From the data, it is evidenced that as the child’s age increases, the less conversation they engage with the parents about their use of the internet.
Discussion.
The survey was conducted to prove how social media has dominated children. Throughout the survey, there is enough evidence that children are now affected by the internet world, positively or negatively. The survey involved certain elements, including how children are accessible to the internet and their use of social media, practices they are involved in, the risks and opportunities the internet exposes them, and social contexts, including parental mediation and sharenting. Some factors which have been emphasized in the survey are age and gender. The use of the internet has been determining by age and gender, depending on the topic. There could be possible errors or bias in the survey due to certain factors, which include; in households sampling, there could be bias due to I influence from parents and friends. Also, in schools, the teachers could influence the students leading to providing biased information. There is the possibility of a lack of recalling the correct information as the data are self-reported; hence, this could result in an error. There are also various methods used, which may result in different results about the method used. Further research should be done due to the daily changes occurring in the world to learn more about children and social media. This could help in providing solutions to children on the use of social media.
References
Choi, G. Y., & Lewallen, J. (2018). “Say Instagram, Kids!”: Examining Sharenting and Children’s Digital Representations on Instagram. Howard Journal of Communications, 29(2), 144-164.
Heid, M. (2017). We need to talk about kids and smartphones. Time Magazine. Retrieved.
Kuzmanović, D., Pavlović, Z., Popadić, D., & Milosevic, T. (2019). Internet and Digital Technology Use among Children and Youth in Serbia: EU Kids Online Survey Results, 2018. Kuzmanović, D., Pavlović, Z., Popadić, D., & Milosevic.
Ravalli, M. J., & Paoloni, P. (2016). Global Kids Online Argentina: Research study on the perceptions and habits of children and adolescents on the use of technologies, the internet and social media.
Smahel, D., MacHackova, H., Mascheroni, G., Dedkova, L., Staksrud, E., Olafsson, K., … & Hasebrink, U. (2020). EU Kids Online 2020: Survey results from 19 countries.