Dr Kinga Stopczyńska from the Department of Marketing at the Faculty of Management, University of Lodz, the article author
Is it already a struggle with addiction?
At the beginning of 2023, a law was enacted in France to exclude people under the age of 15 from setting up social media accounts without parental consent. In the US, the state of Utah has, by law, made it impossible for anyone under the age of 18 to create a Facebook, Instagram or TikTok account without parental consent. In Poland, as in most EU countries, the age limit for setting up a personal social media profile is 13. In fact, many parents set up accounts for much younger children, declaring a different year of birth to allow them to operate on social media.
According to the survey results, only 12% of eight-year-olds in Poland do not use social media. 62% of primary second graders spent less than two hours online per day. Among primary sixth graders, this percentage was 27%, and among the oldest, only 11%. More than half of sixth-graders (55%) spent from one to four hours a day online outside of school hours, and among teenagers it was one third (34%). On the other hand, among older young people, more than half of them (56 per cent) spent from two to six hours a day online (data based on an article in Wirtualne Media.
Does this mean that we can speak of an actual addiction of children and young people to social media? For those who use it, social media is a window to the world giving unlimited access to information, allowing them to stay in constant touch with beloved ones and friends. It is a source of inspiration, providing an opportunity for self-development, but also a space that carries many risks, such as self-alienation from relationships outside the social media space, distorted self-perceptions in relation to images of people in social media – the constant search for the best version of oneself and many others.
A baby on social media almost from conception...
This is what it looks like from an adult's point of view, and what might it look like from a child's perspective? What should be remembered about is that this generation has already grown up in the era of social media, in many cases contact with it was naturally transferred from the behaviour of parents who spent their time using it. Thus, such a behaviour becomes quite natural for the child. Many children had their social media profiles set up almost from the moment of conception by their parents who were sharing their daily lives. This means that social media has always been embedded in their lives, and the 'swipe' movement when using a smartphone or a tablet became one of the first things they were taught.
Who among us hasn't witnessed at least once a situation when a parent gave their child a smartphone with a video on social media, just to occupy their attention, make them happy or simply to relax? Such a form has the nature of a certain gratification. By making it fun, building interest we create specific habits in the child, for whom, after a certain time, it is the social media space that becomes extremely important. As children's awareness grows, so does their need for information, which they will receive most quickly on social media.
The number and nature of the portals that the market offers us means that we can solve almost any problem with the help of social media. It is there that authority figures are created. For many children influencers become the most important figures in their lives because it is from them that they obtain knowledge about the world. The problem arises when a child's independent exploration of social media is in no way monitored by their caregivers, who should be the natural guides through social media.
Social media – yes, but with a parent
Despite this huge openness to the world, we still have a problem communicating in the real world, when the very tidbits found on social media could be the perfect space to build interest and genuine caregiver-child relationships. The caregiver’s role is to teach the child how to navigate social media in a way that allows them to assess the value of the content with great ease. Think about which caregiver would allow a child to drive a car on their own just because they know how to start it. Most of us would respond: but it's irresponsible, it's dangerous.
The same is true of social media – the mere ability to "start" a given portal does not yet mean that a child will understand how much social media can develop them, build their creativity, open them up to new things, but at the same time, what dangers it carries, how much it can harm them, e.g. by building up an inappropriate image of themselves, limiting their perception only to the consumption of content, without the ability to evaluate it properly.
What should be paid attention to in particular is that the use of social media can also fulfil one of the child's needs, such as belonging to a group, e.g. a peer group, which is extremely important for children.
Social media and benefits for children
Therefore, demonising social media makes absolutely no sense. It is a space that can become an excellent field for expanding knowledge, exploring new interests and discovering truly valuable authorities. It is also a space to build healthy relationships with people who share the same interests, needs. It is a space that creates young creatives, builds their strength and market position – enables them to achieve success. Social media also teaches how to express one's own opinion, create views, allows to teach a child what they like, what they give permission for and what is absolutely unacceptable to them.
However, it is worth remembering that just as we wouldn't leave a child alone in the woods at night, we shouldn't leave them alone in a space as highly stimulated as social media. Whether it becomes an entire universe for them depends hugely on their caregivers.
It would be an excellent idea to introduce elements of the use of social media in schools as part of their subjects. Indeed, combining the natural space that social media is for children with the educational process would certainly bring more benefits than simply banning its use or speaking negatively about it.
It is difficult, after all, to forbid someone to use something that has been a natural space for them from a very young age. However, one can always try to do everything to make the child want to invite us into this world and tell us how important it is for them. To paraphrase Winnie the Pooh: You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.
Source: Dr Kinga Stopczyńska, Department of Marketin, Faculty of Management, University of Lodz
Edit: Communications and PR Centre, University of Lodz, endnotes are from the editors
Photo: Maciej Andrzejewski (Communications and PR Centre, University of Lodz)