CHILDREN AGED TEN ADDICTED TO SOCIAL MEDIA

Happiness dependent on number of ‘likes’ they get, reveals major study

CHILDREN as young as ten are becoming dependent on social media for their sense of self-worth, a major study warned.

It found many youngsters now measure their status by how much public approval they get online, often through ‘likes’. Some change their behaviour in real life to boost their image on the web.

The report into youngsters aged from eight to 12 was carried out by Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield. She said social media firms were exposing children to major emotional risks, with some youngsters starting secondary school ill-equipped to cope with the avalanche of pressure they faced online. Snapchat, WhatsApp and Instagram were the most popular social networks for the children even though all three

supposedly require users to be at least 13. The youngsters confessed to planning excursions around potential photo-opportunities and then messaging friends – and friends of friends – to demand ‘likes’ for their online posts.

The report found that youngsters felt their friendships could be at risk if they did not respond to social media posts quickly, and around the clock.

Children aged eight to ten were ‘starting to feel happy’ when others liked their posts. However, those in the ten to 12 age group were ‘concerned with how many people like their posts’ suggesting a ‘need’ for social validation that gets more intense the older they become.

Last month a former Facebook boss claimed the social network’s ‘dopaminedriven feedback loops’ were ‘ripping apart the social fabric of how society works’. And ex-Facebook president Sean Parker said: ‘God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.’

Miss Longfield warned that a generation of children risked growing up ‘worried about their appearance and image as a result of the unrealistic lifestyles they follow on platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, and increasingly anxious about switching off due to the constant demands of social media’.

She said: ‘What starts as fun usage of apps – children are using it with family and friends and to play games when they are in primary school – turns into an avalanche of pressure when children really are faced with a cliff edge of social media interaction when they start secondary school. While social media clearly provides some great benefits to children, it is also exposing them to significant risks emotionally.

‘I am worried that many children are starting secondary school ill-equipped to cope with the sudden demands of social media as their world expands.’ ‘When you get a buzz, and then you go to get it but you don’t. And then you get another buzz and another She said children compared themselves to others online in a way that was ‘hugely damaging in terms of their self-identity, in terms of their confidence, but also in terms of their ability to develop themselves’.

Miss Longfield added: ‘Then there is this push to connect – if you go offline will you miss something, will you miss out, will you show that you don’t care about those people you are following, all of those come together in a huge way at once.

‘For children it is very, very difficult to cope with emotionally.’

The Children’s Commissioner for England’s study – Life in Likes – found that children as young as eight were using social media platforms such as Snapchat, WhatsApp and Instagram, largely for play.

However, the research – involving eight groups of 32 children aged eight to 12 – suggested that as the they headed toward their teens, they became increasingly anxious online.

By the time they started secondary school – at age 11 – children were already far more aware of their image online and felt under huge pressure to ensure their posts were popular, the report found.

However, they still did not know how to cope with meanspirited jokes, or the sense of inadequacy they might feel if they compared themselves to celebrities or more glamourous friends online. The report said they also faced pressure to respond to messages at all hours of the day – especially at secondary school when more youngsters have mobile phones.

The Children’s Commissioner said schools and parents must now do more to prepare children for the emotional minefield they faced online. And she said social media companies must also ‘take more responsibility’. They should either police their websites better so that children do not sign up too early, or they should tailor their websites to the needs of younger users.

Javed Khan, of children’s charity Barnardo’s, said: ‘It’s vital that new compulsory ageappropriate relationship and sex education lessons in England should help equip children to deal with the growing demands of social media.

‘It’s also hugely important for parents to know which apps their children are using.’

‘Avalanche of pressure’