The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families

Pediatrics

Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe

Kathleen Clarke-Pearson

Council on Communications and Media

Adolescents

Bullying

COPPA

Cyberbullying

Facebook depression

Internet

Social Networking

advertising

children

digital footprint

online harassment

sexting

social media

Using social media Web sites is among the most common activity of today's children and adolescents. Any Web site that allows social interaction is considered a social media site, including social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter; gaming sites and virtual worlds such as Club Penguin, Second Life, and the Sims; video sites such as YouTube; and blogs. Such sites offer today's youth a portal for entertainment and communication and have grown exponentially in recent years. For this reason, it is important that parents become aware of the nature of social media sites, given that not all of them are healthy environments for children and adolescents. Pediatricians are in a unique position to help families understand these sites and to encourage healthy use and urge parents to monitor for potential problems with cyberbullying, “Facebook depression,” sexting, and exposure to inappropriate content.

127

4

800-804

2011/04/01

en

10.1542/peds.2011-0054

0031-4005, 1098-4275

Copyright © 2011 by the American Academy of Pediatrics