The Dangers of Early Social Media Access: Why Raising the Age Limit is Essential for Teen Well-Being

Ninety-seven percent of US teens readily admit to using the internet daily, with 46 percent reporting they're online "almost constantly."

The internet has become an ever-present companion, and modern children and teens obviously do use it for educational reasons. (They probably wouldn't know how to write an essay without "Googling it," after all!) However, the average Gen Z teen spends hours a day on social media, with YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat being the most popular choices.

The social media platforms of choice are always in flux, as is the amount of time teens spend on these platforms. Concerns about the impact this may have on today's young people are decidedly not new, however. Surgeon General Vivek Murphy is the latest (and perhaps most impactful) person to propose raising the legal age of social media use for safeguarding reasons.

Will this ever happen? Should teens be on social networks, and why are some people so adamant about the need to get young teens off social media? What else should we consider before supporting laws that raise the age limit?

How Can Social Media Negatively Impact a Teen's Physical and Mental Development?

While parents, educators, children, and politicians have been debating the potential negative impact of social media on teens for years, researchers have also been hard at work to study how social platforms impact young people. Studies often have conflicting results, with many highlighting that the dangers are real — but the benefits are, too.

Some of the most important reasons to get teens off social media now include:

• Blurred lines between reality and fantasy. Technological advances make it ever-easier for people to present completely unrealistic images of their lives. Social media can easily create the impression that everyone else's life is better — and teens may also feel depressed when they compare the online image they present of themselves to their actual lives.
• Giant time suck. Social media is designed to keep users on-platform for as long as possible, and it works.
• Erosion of real-life social skills. Teens who grow up socializing online may not be able to translate these skills to the real world. Ever seen a group of youngsters "in the wild" who are all staring at their phones, rather than talking to each other?
• Misinformation. Teen and adult influencers share health, social, and political content that may be damaging teens' wellbeing, with few safeguards. Rates of teens self-diagnosing with conditions like autism, Tourette's syndrome, borderline personality disorder, and dissociative identity disorder are up, particularly since the rise of TikTok. This can create a very dangerous spiral.
• Addiction. At the extreme end of the spectrum, teens won't just waste lots of time. They may also become addicted. Thirty-six percent of teen netizens told the Pew Research Center they spent too much time on social media, while 55 percent admitted that it would be hard to give social media up. Only some of these teenagers could be said to be addicted, but it happens. (See: Signs you are addicted to social media.)
• Bullying. Cyberbullying is an ever-present threat.
• Predators. Let's not forget that the creeps that used to victimize young people "in meat space" now have a vast digital playground. Hiding behind cute avatars or fake photos, they're harder to identify — but they're there. They can leave devastation in their wake, even if their predatory activities stay confined to the internet. (Find out more about keeping children safe from sexual predators on the internet!)
• Feelings of emptiness. Because we're wired to seek out real-life human connections, and social media is a poor substitute that never allows us to see beyond people's carefully-curated facades. These feelings can even contribute to depression — see also: Is social media making your teen depressed? and Social media usage linked with anxiety and depression.
• FOMO. Teens who weren't invited to a great party will definitely find out about it on social media. They may even spend hours scrolling through friends' feeds in "fear of missing out", a modern-day anxiety.

YouTube was a nice "digital babysitter" playing innocent Peppa Pig episodes not too long ago, but now teens are artfully hiding the sexts they send or the extreme political views they're falling into with fake calculator apps. Seventy-one percent of parents are concerned about their kids' social media use, and many say parenting is harder than it was 20 years ago because of new technologies.

Is it time to put a stop to it? Should we get our kids off social media now?

Is Legislating Against Social Media Use Among Young Teens Even Possible?

Almost all teens between 13 and 17 use the internet every day, and many of them spend hours on social media without even realizing it.

Are they new to these platforms? Probably not; CNN reported that nearly half of 10 to 12 year olds, and 32 percent of seven to nine year olds, used at least one social media platform.

COPPA requires social media platforms to restrict access to children below 13, but it is not actually illegal for younger children to create accounts. In fact, we all know this is common practice. All it takes is sliding that drop-down menu up a few (or a lot of) years when platforms ask new users to input their birth years.

Raising the legal age would have precisely zero impact, then, unless some sort of verification were to be required. That, in turn, creates a privacy minefield for all users, not just those too young to be on social media. Let's not forget that social media platforms are already massive data-mining operations, and they'd probably love to get their hands on copies of users' driving licenses or ID cards.

It's hard to image this becoming a reality — but we still have to keep our kids safe.

What's the Answer?

Hard to say, but parents who want their kids off social media can definitely try. A combination of open conversation, including warning children about the dangers of social media use and parental controls will help some. Those who have already grown accustomed to this way off life frequently know more about computers than their Gen X parents, but it's never too late to start talking about all the dangers that lurk online.

Parents with young children and those who are yet to become parents may have an easier time. Knowing how much the internet has changed and being more familiar with the dangers, they can focus on creating a healthy online/offline balance. Like Bill Gates and others in the tech industry, they may keep their kids off the web and take steps to create a rich offline life for their families.

Will the social media age be raised? If it is, will that actually keep kids off social media? That remains to be seen.

However, it's high time to take this discussion mainstream. Not all "progress" is for the better, after all.