In recent years, I have really begun to notice the massive influence the internet, and social media in particular have on today’s youth. I think that if kids are influenced by the internet at such a young age it can have a large, negative impact on their behavior, personality, and development. There have been many studies on internet use among children and how it affects them. On average, children are twelve years old when they get their first cell phone.

Also, fifty six percent of children ages eight to twelve have a cellphone, and children around eight years and younger have been reported as having smartphones. The question is, is this too young for kids to be opened up to the influences that social media could have on them? There is no right answer to this; it’s up to you to decide. Personally, I think kids should be a little older before they use the internet because when kids are young they are very impressionable and imitate almost anything they deem cool. This often results in a lot of little kids with very influenced, tainted personalities. I also think that social media can sometimes present a negative culture for children. This is how you end up with twelve year old kids thinking they are Lil Wayne.

Another negative outcome is when children see their role-models smoking marijuana on the internet, so when they eventually come into contact with it they are more likely to use it. Technology obviously has its benefits and can be used constructively in many ways such as for education. For example, seventy four percent of teachers say the internet expands their classroom, and seventy three percent of teachers say it motivates students to learn. There is a fine line between constructive internet use and negative internet use though. I think that since we are moving into the new age of the internet, kids really need to be educated about the internet, social media and how it should be used. In fact, many schools are already starting to do this. The internet can be a dangerous place for young, weak minded kids. Twenty six percent of online sex crimes are related to social media. Fifty five percent of kids have given out personal information on the internet, twenty nine percent have been stalked, and twenty four percent have had private information made public on social media. Without the right education, there is some serious room for young kids to make major mistakes on the internet.

Overall I think young kids can be very impressionable and they need to have more positive influences and less negative influences, and for young kids on social media, unfortunately, there is more negative influences than positive by far.