75% of teens own mobile phones
54% use mobile phones for texting
25% log onto social media sites more than 10 times a day

The American Academy of Pediatrics has released a clinical report, The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families, on the benefits and risks of social media. They stressed that “ 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.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics defines a social media site as “any web site that allows social interaction, 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.”

The benefits and risks included:
Benefits
• Enhanced communication with family and friends
• Opportunities for community engagement
• Collaboration & exchange of ideas through blogs, podcasts & videos
• Access to health information

Risks
• Cyberbullying: deliberately using digital media to communicate embarrassing or hostile information about others (most frequent online risk)
• Online harassment: a broad array of actions including stalking & threats
• Sexting: sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages, photographs, or images via cell phone, computer, or other digital devices
• Facebook depression (related to extensive time spent on social media sites) & Internet addiction
• Exposure to inappropriate content
• Privacy concerns and compromised reputation (digital footprint)
• Influence of advertisements on buying habits
• Sleep deprivation

Recommendations for clinicians
• Advise parents to talk to their children about their use of social media.
• Encourage regular family meetings to discuss online issues.
• Supervise online activities.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families.