A group of U.S. senators recently called on tech giant Meta – which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger – to hand over documents related to the mental and physical harms its products cause to young people. The demand follows a lawsuit filed by 33 states in October 2023 that alleges that Meta, in order to maximize profits, knowingly designs addictive social media features. The lawsuit states these features are designed “to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens.”
While researchers disagree about whether social media and other digital media can truly be addictive, they do agree that excessive smartphone use is a problem. Many parents express concern and confusion about how best to manage digital media use for children under the age of 13.
I am a professor of library and information science at Drexel University’s College of Computing and Informatics. My colleague Yuanyuan Feng and I conducted in-depth research interviews in 2019-22 with 17 parents at three branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The goal was to study how parents manage media use within their families. All of the parents – who represented a range of educational, socioeconomic, racial and ethnic backgrounds – were Philadelphia residents with at least one child age 5 to 11.
Although we did not set out to study parental concerns about children’s media use, every one of the parents expressed worries. Only eight parents discussed any positive aspects of media use.
Our research suggests promoting balance – rather than preventing addiction – is a better goal for managing kids’ digital media use.
Parents’ key concerns
The most common concern – expressed by 80% of our study participants – was children’s exposure to inappropriate content. We have used pseudonyms throughout this article to protect our participants’ privacy.
As Eliza, a mother of three kids ages 4, 7 and 13, said, “I wanted to make sure that (my children) just were not watching inappropriate stuff. … They know that word. They’re always like, ‘It’s not appropriate.’”
Nearly three-quarters of the parents were uncomfortable with the amount of time their children spend with media. “It’s like a battle,” said Jordan, a father of three sons, the oldest age 6. “I try to limit the screens as much as I can, although I realize we have pretty much every type of device that he could use or want to use.”
Seventy percent of the Philadelphia parents worried about media use displacing potentially healthier activities like reading books, playing outside, socializing in-person with friends or attending community events for kids.
“There’s all kinds of cool things (at the library). There’s story time here, and … (t)hey had a pot-bellied pig outside one day. We got to meet a pot-bellied pig! I mean, how do you get that chance when you live in the city?” said Marla, the mother of a 5-year-old girl.
Evonne, a mother of an 8-year-old boy and two girls age 11 and 12, cited concern for children’s safety and privacy. This was shared by slightly more than half of the parents.
“I just had this conversation with my kids,” she said. “‘Whatever you put out there on social media can come back to haunt you … whether it’s a job interview or even a college or high school interview. You have to be very careful how you present yourself. … It can really damage you.’”
Research suggests that saying digital media damages children’s social skills is an oversimplification. Still, about a third of the parents worried that media overuse leads to poor social skills. “Kids (are) losing the ability just to socialize,” said Tyler, a father of two boys, ages 4 and 8.
A group of U.S. senators recently called on tech giant Meta – which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger – to hand over documents related to the mental and physical harms its products cause to young people. The demand follows a lawsuit filed by 33 states in October 2023 that alleges that Meta, in order to maximize profits, knowingly designs addictive social media features. The lawsuit states these features are designed “to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens.”
While researchers disagree about whether social media and other digital media can truly be addictive, they do agree that excessive smartphone use is a problem. Many parents express concern and confusion about how best to manage digital media use for children under the age of 13.
I am a professor of library and information science at Drexel University’s College of Computing and Informatics. My colleague Yuanyuan Feng and I conducted in-depth research interviews in 2019-22 with 17 parents at three branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The goal was to study how parents manage media use within their families. All of the parents – who represented a range of educational, socioeconomic, racial and ethnic backgrounds – were Philadelphia residents with at least one child age 5 to 11.
Although we did not set out to study parental concerns about children’s media use, every one of the parents expressed worries. Only eight parents discussed any positive aspects of media use.
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