Last Name 1

Student’s Name

Professor’s Name

Course Number

Date

The Appropriate Age to Allow Children and Young Adults Use Social Media

It is important to allow children to develop their mindsets and values, by relating with family
members and their immediate environment, before exposing them to the dangers of social media.

According to a report by Family Zone, cyber experts recommend 13 years as the minimum age
for a number of social media apps and 16 for some others. Dr. Kristy, a cyber expert, states that, “It’s
difficult to prescribe a precise age limit as kids need to have social and emotional skills to cope with the
demands of social media. For some kids, this is 13 years and for other kids it may be 15 years.” (Family
Zone n.p.). That is to say, there is no guaranteed age; rather, it depends on the child’s growth.

Although social media has a lot of usefulness, the disadvantages, especially for a young mind,
completely outweigh its advantages. Some of the effects of social media on a developing mind include,
but are not limited to, cyberbullying, identity theft, phishing, unrealistic views of other people’s lives and
peer pressure. Because of this, a lot of social media platforms grant access to personal accounts from 13
years of age and some 16.

However, more research shows that more young people who are below the age limit join social
media. According to Anna Rodriguez, research by Opinium revealed that 59% of kids below the age of 10
have joined social media (Social Media Today n.p.). It Is important to note that young people are at a
higher risk of negative peer pressure. Because of this, the more these young people are exposed to
social media, the more aggressive, violent and rebellious they tend to become, especially if not
supervised, and more importantly, if they are not called to order on time by a figure they ‘respect.’

Having verified that there is no guaranteed age limit for granting access to social media, it is
therefore required that to reduce or control the dangers of social media in our society, children and
young people should not be allowed access to any form of social media until they are at least 16 years of
age because by then they would have already instilled the values that they need to go on in life, whether
they eventually get to use social media or not.
 Last Name 2

Works Cited

Family Zone Team. Social Media: What is the right age to allow access? Family Zone Cyber Safety Blog.

2017. https://www.familyzone.com/anz/families/blog/what-age-for-social-media

Rodriguez, Anna. 8 Reasons Why Parents Should Allow their Kids to Use social media. Social Media

Today. 2016. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/8-reasons-why-parents-

should-allow-their-kids-use-social-media-
sites#:~:text=Social%20media%20can%20help%20improve,re%20posting%20updates%20or%20
tweets