Hagan 1

Key Hagan

Mrs Robinson

English

13 February 2024

Social media is not good for children, it is detrimental to their mental health. Many

people believe that children under the age of 16 should have social media. This is untrue because

it is unsafe and not good for children. Children should not be on social media, It is hard for them

to comprehend and deal with hate comments.There should be a law that prohibits children from

being on social media. It would benefit the youth as well as save parents from worrying about

their children receiving hate comments.

There is alot of hate speach. Even adults, for example Michele Rayne said “I’m 42-years

old... and comments like these were a gut punch to me, but I was able to navigate¨ (Democratic

Rep. Michele Rayne 1)She said that what people said to her was very hurtful and hard to deal

with. Children's brains are not fully developed so they process things differently. When

something is hard for an adult to deal with it will be very hard for a child to deal with. On social

media anyone can comment on your posts and they can say mean and hurtful things. For

example Democratic Rep. Michele Rayne posted something about her dead mother and people

commented on her post and said your mom sucks. Children don't know how to deal with cyber

bullying so many take their own lives. There have also been many instances where children have

fallen into traps set by sexual predators and that led them into bad places. It has been said that

social media exposes children to bullying and sexual predators and can lead to depression,

suicide and an addictive obsession. There can also be very inappropriate things on social media

because you can communicate with anyone in the world. There have been many times where
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there are inappropriate things happening on social media. Children should not be on an app

where they can communicate with anyone even if they are a lot older or younger than them.

Some children have taken their own lives from problems that came from social media. There

have also been many cases where older guys are trying to communicate with younger girls and

meet them and that is not appropriate and children should not be on social media for that reason.

However some believe that social media is good and that all children should be on it. It

was said that. ¨Many teens today leverage the internet and apps to responsibly gather information

and learn about new opportunities, including part-time jobs, higher education, civic or church

gatherings, and military service,”(Caulder Harvill-Childs 5 ) This is true, many children use their

phones to do productive things like getting jobs. There are many online apps where you can

apply for jobs, get new information about church groups. Children need social media to

communicate with family, friends and even as a way to learn. Children can learn about anything

online. Communication is a key aspect in a good prosperous life of a child, communication helps

with many things and is good for everyday life. Children should have social media because it

helps them learn about life and how to communicate. Children under 16 do not need to be on

social media for jobs. Many people can apply for positions in person. If children are using social

media for church meetings they could have their parents use their phone and then tell them the

information about the meeting. The cool and funny parts of social media are not worth the

amount of lives that have been lost because of social media.

Children should not be on social media. It is hard for them to comprehend and deal with

hate comments. If kids under 16 did not have social media the world would be alot better. There

would be less suicide for children under the age of 16. There would be less children falling into

bad things because of predators. Social media influences kids to do many things. For example
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there was a tiktok trend on social media where you would take benadryl and see how many you

could take without passing out and it killed many people including a 13 year old boy from ohio.

If he did not have social media he would never have thought to take the benadryl. Without social

media the world would be better and safer for children.

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Work Cited

"DeSantis questions legality of proposed social media ban, legislative budgets and more."

reimaginED, 29 Jan. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A780783280/ITOF?u=broward29&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c6

92898f. Accessed 1 Feb. 2024.

"FLORIDA HOUSE PASSES A BILL TO BAN SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS FOR

CHILDREN UNDER 16." Techlife News, 27 Jan. 2024, p. 36. Gale General OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A780848592/ITOF?u=broward29&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=53

ada9d9. Accessed 1 Feb. 2024.