The Use of Social Media in Children and Adolescents: Scoping Review on the Potential Risks

Abstract

In recent years, social media has become part of our lives, even among children. From the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic period, media device and Internet access rapidly increased. Adolescents connected Internet alone, consulting social media, mostly Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. During “lockdown”, the Internet usage allowed communication with peers and the continuity activities such as school teaching. However, we have to keep in mind that media usage may be related to some adverse consequences especially in the most vulnerable people, such as the young. Aim of the review is to focus on risks correlated to social media use by children and adolescents, identifying spies of rising problems and engaging in preventive recommendations. The scoping review was performed according to PRISMA guidelines, searching on PubMed the terms “social media” or “social network”, “health”, and “pediatrics”. Excluding articles not pertinent, we found 68 reports. Out of them, 19 were dealing with depression, 15 with diet, and 15 with psychological problems, which appeared to be the most reported risk of social media use. Other identified associated problems were sleep, addiction, anxiety, sex related issues, behavioral problems, body image, physical activity, online grooming, sight, headache, and dental caries. Public and medical awareness must rise over this topic and new prevention measures must be found, starting with health practitioners, caregivers, and websites/application developers. Pediatricians should be aware of the risks associated to a problematic social media use for the young’s health and identify sentinel signs in children as well as prevent negative outcomes in accordance with the family.

Impact of Social Media Use on Mental Health within Adolescent and Student Populations during COVID-19 Pandemic: Review

“…According to this literature review, the influence of SM use on the MH of adolescents and students during the COVID-19 pandemic has been significant. The findings of this review indicate that SM use was predominantly associated with the mental ill-being of adolescents and students during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ], most commonly related to MH problems, such as depression, anxiety and stress [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 31 , 32 ], which is in line with recent publications regarding SM use and its influence on MH of the younger population during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 ].…”

“…This review found a link between increased SM use and depression [ 24 , 27 , 29 , 31 , 32 ], which is consistent with the findings in recent research where SM exposure [ 38 ] and excessive SM networking site usage [ 39 , 40 ] were associated with increased depression. Research has shown that the more time adolescents and students spend on SM, the more likely they are to experience negative effects on their MH [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ], that excessive use of SM can contribute to feelings of loneliness [ 39 ], anxiety [ 36 , 40 ] and depression [ 36 , 38 , 39 , 40 ]. This is particularly true for those who compare themselves to others on SM [ 44 ] and experience cyberbullying [ 45 , 46 ].…”

How do social media influencers change adolescents’ behavior? An evidence from Middle East Countries

“…In addition, ethical aspect was measured by using 7 items and the same Likert scale were these items were designed and revised by expertise related to some ethical issues in Middle East Countries. Finally, the health aspect where researches adopted some items from Lim et al [ 66 ] and Bozzola et al [ 70 ]. Participants were able to give their own opinions clearly by agreeing or not agreeing to the statements of questionnaires.…”

Contemporary Hermits: A Developmental Psychopathology Account of Extreme Social Withdrawal (Hikikomori) in Young People

“…Young people may use social media channels (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok) to satisfy their need to belong (Bozzola et al, 2022 ), but there is debate on whether technology-mediated social interactions have the same potential as live social interactions.…”