The study used data from Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study which researched about 11,000 children in the US to know about their cognitive development. All the participants in the study were from diverse ethnic groups, demographics, socioeconomic, geographical and racial backgrounds. The researchers of this study analyzed a dataset of 10,092 participants between the ages of 11-15, between the years 2019 to 2021. Participants were given surveys about their social media usage, and there were questions about how much they use social media, what are their platform preferences and whether they have a secret account or not. Social Media Addiction Questionnaire was also added in the survey to measure the harmful effects of prolonged social media usage in children.
The results of the survey showed that 69.5% of the participants of the survey had at least one social media account, even though most of the platforms require users to be 13 years or older. 63.8% of children under 13 also admitted having at least one social media account and TikTok was the most popular network among them. 68.2% of social media users under 13 used TikTok, while 62.9% used YouTube. Instagram (57.3%) and Snapchat (55.2%) was also some most used platforms among children under 13 years.
| Social Media Addiction Questionnaire* | Never | Very Rarely | Rarely | Sometimes | Often | Very Often |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I spend a lot of time thinking about social media apps or planning my use of social media apps. | 31.0% | 22.9% | 20.7% | 18.8% | 4.7% | 1.8% |
| I feel the need to use social media apps more and more. | 43.2% | 19.1% | 22.8% | 10.9% | 3.0% | 0.9% |
| I use social media apps so I can forget about my problems. | 47.9% | 14.2% | 12.7% | 16.7% | 5.6% | 2.9% |
| I've tried to use my social media apps less but I can’t. | 52.9% | 15.1% | 14.9% | 11.2% | 4.0% | 1.8% |
| I've become stressed or upset if I am not allowed to use my social media apps. | 58.0% | 15.0% | 12.1% | 10.0% | 3.3% | 1.5% |
| I use social media apps so much that it has had a bad effect on my schoolwork or job. | 66.6% | 13.3% | 9.3% | 7.6% | 2.3% | 0.9% |
It is not surprising that a lot of underage children are using social media, because there are no solid age verification systems on these platforms. Children can easily enter an older date of birth and access social media app. The study also found that under 13 children also had an average 3.38 accounts on social networks. Adolescents were more inclined to have a secret account hidden from their parents than under 13 children. There was also a gender difference in social media usage among under-age children. Girls were more likely to use platforms like Snapchat, TikTok and Pinterest while Boys were more likely to use Reddit and YouTube. Girls were also likely to become emotionally dependent on social media and spend significant time there. The researchers also noted that social media usage among under-age kids increased during Covid-19 as they became highly dependent on digital communication. The study sheds light on how social media usage among under-age children can have serious consequences if social media platforms do not take any measures to have strict age requirements.
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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World
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