BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) – For years, experts have warned of the dangers and negative impacts social media can have on our minds. Those impacts are also emerging in the growing brains of children and teenagers.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to be this connection thing that helps us get out of the wake of this algorithm. It’s bad,” said UAB associate marketing professor Dr. Parker Woodroof.
Many of us have found ourselves doing it, doomscrolling on social media and comparing our lives to others through the phone. How many of us can say, at the end of our scrolling, we feel happy or better about ourselves? That’s a question Dr. Woodroof asks his marketing students every semester.
He says no one has raised their hand with a positive feeling about social media. If we feel these negative impacts as adults, what effects is it having on the developing minds of kids and teens?
“These are our future leaders that we’re seeing huge spikes in depression, suicide, eating disorders,” said Woodroof. “If we don’t clean that up, they’re the ones that are going to be leading the world.”
Monkey see, monkey do – a phrase often used to describe imitation and learned behaviors. But what does that have to do with social media and children?
“The best thing I think parents can do right now is actually look in the mirror,” Woodroof said. “We have to heal our own habits. Because I have moments where my children are both staring at me, I feel like I have to be vulnerable here, and they want my attention and I’m doomscrolling or checked out. So, we really have to look in the mirror because the biggest platform in their lives is us at home, and if we want to impact them and inspire them, something has to change.”
Some parents say this is a big topic that can make a lot of parents nervous and raise concerns.
“So many thoughts and opinions just about whether or not they’re allowed to access social media, how much they’re allowed to access, and then how it influences their growth and development, how it influences their social interactions,” said Homewood mother Naomi Washington. “I think it can be great, but I think there’s a lot of negative things that can occur too.”
Some moms like Ireasha Bandic have hard set boundaries on social media use for their kids.
“Once they’re exposed, you cannot take it away,” Bandic said. “Once our children’s innocence is gone, it’s gone.”
Many parents wonder what age is the right age to introduce social media to their kids.
“Whenever the school introduces it to her,” Laquale Myricks, a father from Hoover, said. “I’ll let that be up to them.”
“I really don’t think even as a teenager, they can grasp what they put out there or what they see. So I really think it depends on the family, what they want and their expectations for their kids,” Bandic said. “But for me, it’s going to be very, very limited.”
Woodroof encourages parents to be kind to themselves. He says social media is a new phenomenon to everyone, and algorithms are designed to keep us scrolling, but the next step is setting guidelines for ourselves and the kids after that realization.
“I remember what it was like being 10 and starving for my dad’s attention, like I just wanted it so bad and they do too,” he said. “I just think if we can start with self-compassion and get to a place where we give ourselves a break but then say ‘ok, this is serious. I want to show up and be there and be present for my kids. How do I do that?’”
Woodroof says social media algorithms target people the same way, regardless of age. He says the original goal of Facebook was connection but that goal has been lost as social media has evolved over the last 13 years. He says the goal now is attention. According to Woodroof, algorithms are teaching kids what’s considered beautiful and safe.
“It’s actually made me check in more with my kids so that I’m kind of controlling that environment, and so I can’t keep them from it forever. Right now, in our house, they don’t have it,” Woodroof said. “I want to be the voice in their lives that’s telling them who they are, who they can be, instilling confidence in them, and again, I really think that’s where parents need to wake up and take ownership of their families.”
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