How the Use of Social Media Can Impact Children and Teens Pt. 1

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) - Social media can be a great way for people to connect.

You can share good news with family across the country, have access to any information at your fingertips, and more.

But it can also be harmful, especially to young children.

“It’s like opening the door to the rest of the world and never closing it,” says Dr. Adrienne Coopey, an assistant professor in the West Virginia University Department of Psychiatry.

Dr. Coopey, who has been a child and adolescent psychiatrist for the past 17 years, says allowing children to use social media in an unregulated way gives them access to information they aren’t ready for, and people who may not have the best intentions.

“Probably one of the most recent things that has been happening over social media that’s been pretty frightening is the targeting of adolescent boys by adults who are posing as young people their same age who are interested in them and ask them for pictures of their private parts and then use those pictures to blackmail them,” says Dr. Coopey.

Other experts say social media affects children in more ways than one.

“Years ago, bullying used to be limited to a situation at school or you know, kids ran on the playground or something like that,” says Dr. Toni Goodykoontz, the chief medical officer of Highland-Clarksburg Hospital. “Now, we have social media. So, people are bullied from people they know, people they don’t know.”

Dr. Coopey says that using social media more than 3 hours a day is detrimental, and increases depression and anxiety.

“It’s when it interferes with your daily life that we really start to worry,” says Dr. Coopey. “When you aren’t sleeping at night because you’re using social media, when you’re not interacting with your peers outside of social media, when you are not doing your schoolwork and getting exercise and interacting with your family.”

Make sure to tune in for the next part of our series looking at how social media use can impact teens and children on Saturday, February 17.

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