TEMPLE, Texas — Director and Chair of the Department of Nursing for Texas A&M University-Central Texas, Amy Mersiovsky, said age restrictions alone don't address the dangers that loom on social media platforms, and it requires a proactive approach from both companies and parents to keep youth and adolescent users safe.
"There are all kinds of videos with dangerous content, there are kids who can be lured into sexual situations, kids that are getting hurt really, really bad," said Mersiovsky. "Parents have to be really careful."
This comes as the American Psychological Association (APA) has called on technology companies to take more steps to protect adolescents and argue that age restrictions alone aren't enough, adding that the platforms are "not inherently suitable for youths."
"We’re seeing kids having more and more depression, more and more behavioral outbursts," Mersiovsky said. "They may have a lot of friends on social media apps, but maybe not a lot of friends in real life and they may not be learning the communication skills."
In the APA report released Tuesday, April 16, the organization said the youth data is already littered with tailored ad content which is already an influential tool for youths who are biologically predisposed towards peer influence and sensitive to personalized content.
"Kids getting addicted, they're seeing more and more content, they want to be like their friends that they've made on the app," Mersiovsky said. "And we've heard about those risky social media challenges and this is how kids get caught up in them."
Through parental accounts, parents can already put limits on activity hours for apps such as TikTok, Snapchat, Meta and more. Mersiovsky said it comes down to parents implementing social media plans and rules for their children.
"When it comes to parental discretion, sometimes parents don't know what their kids are up to online, that's why 80 percent of parents think that social media companies have to help them," Mersiovsky said.
With the ongoing development of the frontal lobes of their brains, Mersiovsky said children "don't know when to stop" and it's up to parents and schools to put in the guardrails and rules for access and content children post online.
"Kids may not like it, but at the end of the day, they'll appreciate us acting as adults and in their best interests," Mersiovsky said.
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