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Articles & Advice > Student Life > Blog

How to Be Responsible Using Social Media as a Student

We all use social media every day and have a level of responsibility as users. Here's some advice for students to learn responsible social media practices.

by Sydney Mathew CollegeXpress Student Writer

Last Updated: Apr 30, 2024

Originally Posted: May 14, 2022

Social media is a tool that has many advantages, allowing you to directly communicate with a large audience, be a member of an ever-present online community, stay connected with friends and family, develop your interests, meet new people, and explore your own identity and opinions. However, if not used safely and responsibly, social media has many disadvantages—and potential consequences. That’s why you should keep these important rules in mind as you navigate your way through the world of social media.

Make sure your pages represent you

Think of social media as a résumé of your character. Do your pages and profiles showcase your passions, hobbies, and friends? Many peers or those you may network with will use social media to get to know you better, so you want to make sure your presence is an accurate representation of yourself. Don’t be overly fake, lie about yourself, or share things that don’t represent your beliefs—this isn’t a true representation of you. 

Never post anything that paints you in a bad light

This is arguably one of the most important social media tips: Don’t post anything that can be used as evidence of unlawful activity. This can lead to you getting in serious trouble with your current or future school and the police. An easy rule is to imagine what a parent, employer, teacher, or grandparent would think about what you’re about to post. Even if you post as “private,” it’s important to remember that nothing is really private in our online world—things can be screenshot and shared in an instant.  

Related: How to Prepare Your Social Media for the Job Search

Stay in control of your content feed

Unfollow and stay away from other social accounts that spread false news, bully others, post insensitive content, or make you feel bad about yourself. Take charge of the media that you are taking in. You want to use social media to uplift your life, stay informed, and connect with your friends. Only follow accounts that are a safe space and promote your growth as an individual. 

Manage your time wisely

The digital world is an easy place to get lost in. Be mindful of how long you’re simply scrolling, especially if you’re not actually getting anything out of it. Set limits on how long you should be on social media apps. Turn off your notifications so it’s less distracting when you have things to get done. Your apps shouldn’t become a roadblock preventing you from completing your daily tasks. This tip is important since it’s so easy to get sucked into TikTok video after TikTok video. 

Related: How to Manage Your Time Intentionally as a Student

Understand the policies

Many schools and workplaces have policies about social media usage. It’s important to understand and adhere to the rules of your institution. Also, be sure to follow the rules of the specific social media platform you’re using. As you’re setting up your account, read through everything (yes, even the fine print) so you understand what rules you need to follow and what you’re consenting to. Go through the privacy settings and change the default setting to something more applicable to you. Also, try to avoid third-party applications. These are often unreliable and are simply used to gather your personal information. 

Keep yourself safe from strangers

Be wary and cautious when following or interacting with people you don’t know on the internet. Even if their profile is friendly or they’re a well-known person on the platform, you don’t know who is truly behind the screen. When conversing with “friends” online, don’t expose any private information. Never meet with a new online friend in person; chances are they are not who they say they are. And don’t respond to any of their requests you’re not comfortable with. 

Related: How to Stay Safe on Your College Campus

Don’t post everything

Do not post about your every move, location, school, town, etc. This information can be used against you. It’s important to maintain a level of privacy between you, your followers, and the digital world. Being careful about what you post and who you interact with keeps you safe from identity theft, privacy infiltration, stalking, and more. The best thing you can do is to keep your accounts private and only let people you know follow you. 

Keep your parents in the loop

Although most of us don’t want our parents to see everything we’re doing, friend your parents on social media. This will hold you accountable for the content you post and interact with. Plus, having an adult perspective is beneficial as you make decisions about your social media usage. Additionally, this will keep you safer as well as strengthen your relationship and trust with your parents. 

Related: Top 8 College Topics to Discuss With Your Student Today

Social media is an integral part of the average teenager’s daily life. With the endless communication, entertainment, and information these platforms provide, it’s very hard to disconnect from the online world. When using social media, it’s important to remember what Spider-Man taught us: With great power comes great responsibility. With the digital world at your fingertips, it’s vital that you follow these rules to remain safe. 

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About Sydney Mathew

Sydney Ann Mathew is a student at Shadow Creek High School in Texas. She’s an academically successful student, participating and holding office positions in a variety of organizations and clubs. At the age of nine, Sydney won first place in a city-wide invention competition. Her invention currently has a “patent pending” status and is in the process of being approved. Sydney enjoys attending church and singing in the youth choir. She volunteers in her local neighborhood community and was instrumental in starting a chapter of Color Cycle, a national recycling initiative, at her elementary school. In her spare time, Sydney enjoys spending time with family and friends, dancing, and playing basketball, volleyball, and the piano. She also writes and uses poetry to convey her emotions and feelings. After high school, she plans to pursue a career in business.

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Social Media: Usage And The Impact On Education

• August 2023
• 33 (2023)(Special Issue 3):4670-4689
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Social Media/Media Literacy: Responsible Use

Here are some ways you can support the youth in your life to engage in responsible social media use:.

• Help youth to build up empathy and perspective-taking skills both offline and online. This can empower them to practice good decision-making online, for example taking time to consider how something they post online might be hurtful, respectfully sharing a difference of opinion in a comment, etc.

Talk about safety and privacy online, and ways that youth can protect themselves

• Privacy, including their social media account settings, as well as their process for who gets access to their page/who doesn’t. Have conversations about what their process is for accepting/not accepting friend requests, etc. These explicit conversations can increase awareness about the importance of privacy, and also support/strengthen good decision-making.
• They can always block/unfriend, and also report, individuals who make you uncomfortable.  For example, individuals who make inappropriate sexual comments, are aggressive, or bullying them.
• Be mindful of what they share in terms of personal information (e.g., sensitive information that if on a piece of paper you lost offline you would be concerned about someone else finding). Also, excessively sharing things like location tags, especially for places like your house, places you frequent often, etc.)
• The permanence of a social media/internet record. While things can be deleted, once posted, there are ways for comments, images, etc. that we post to follow us in the long-term. Once posted, we have no control over where they may end up. For example, sexually explicit images/videos, harassing comments, compromising information about yourself or another person, etc., have consequences socially, legally, etc.
• Taking online relationships with individuals that they don’t know offline. While most youth are not interacting with individuals they don’t know offline (e.g., research suggests that most youth use social media to keep up with friendships/relationships that exist offline), sometimes, youth connect with peers on social media who share similar interests (e.g., gaming community, etc.). An adult needs to be involved if these relationships are taken offline to ensure safety.

Encourage balanced use of social media:

• Support practices of “unplugging”, “digital detox”,  or taking time away from social media where you don’t access any social media. For example evening hours/bedtime, as well as periodic “unplugging” for longer durations (e.g., weekends or a certain number of days).
• Help youth to have greater awareness and control of their social media consumption. For example, removing social media apps from your smartphone and only accessing them from a computer can help with regulating access because it’s often not as easily accessible as refreshing on your smartphone. There are also apps available that help with managing time limits regarding social media access.

Encourage youth to maintain offline relationships.

Support self-esteem nurtured through offline activities and interests., be aware of cyberbullying and some of the potential signs of who might be bullying or getting bullied online including sudden changes in their use of social media., encourage positive aspects of social media such as connecting with like-minded peers around a special/niche interest, open up conversations about challenges with use, cyberbullying, etc. that may be coming., what not to do.

• Follow youth online without their consent/knowledge. For instance, if youth has social media page/account that is public (i.e., doesn’t require a “request” before people can view content), don’t spend time on their page/account without letting them know. Doing so creates situations where you might learn something about them that they were not ready to share with you, or it creates a monitoring/prying/trust issue that may weaken your relationship.
• Agree to connect with youth via social media without consideration of what your page/account and activity on social media look like. While some social media allows for settings where you can filter your page out by group so that certain people only see certain content on your page or to share content with subsets of people, it’s important to consider what type of image you’re presenting online.
• Share pictures/videos, etc. of youth or other identifying content on your social media without getting their consent (along with parent/guardian).
• Model how not to get caught up in excessive social media use or constant checking when spending time with them.
• Dismiss or minimize concerns they raise about experiences on social media, no matter how benign the concerns may seem. Instances of cyberbullying may start off with something that appears minor before escalating.

Where to get help

The bigger picture.

24% of teens go online “almost constantly,” facilitated by the widespread availability of smartphones.

Aided by the convenience and constant access provided by mobile devices, especially smartphones, 92% of teens report going online daily — including 24% who say they go online “almost constantly,” according to a new study from Pew Research Center. More than half (56%) of teens — defined in this report as those ages 13 to 17 — go online several times a day, and 12% report once-a-day use. Just 6% of teens report going online weekly, and 2% go online less often.

Much of this frenzy of access is facilitated by mobile devices. Nearly three-quarters of teens have or have access to a smartphone and 30% have a basic phone, while just 12% of teens 13 to 17 say they have no cell phone of any type. African-American teens are the most likely of any group of teens to have a smartphone, with 85% having access to one, compared with 71% of both white and Hispanic teens. These phones and other mobile devices have become a primary driver of teen internet use: Fully 91% of teens go online from mobile devices at least occasionally. Among these “mobile teens,” 94% go online daily or more often. By comparison, teens who don’t access the internet via mobile devices tend to go online less frequently. Some 68% go online at least daily.

African-American and Hispanic youth report more frequent internet use than white teens. Among African-American teens, 34% report going online “almost constantly” as do 32% of Hispanic teens, while 19% of white teens go online that often.

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In Favor of the Public Interest: Social Media Should be Regulated

Jan 31, 2020

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In response to the question " Is there an ethical responsibility to regulate the Internet? ", the following essay was selected as a winner of Carnegie Council's 2019 international student essay contest.

Subscribe to the carnegie ethics newsletter for more on the ethics of emerging technology, essay by rita valkovskaya.

Social media presents a number of dangers that require urgent and immediate regulation, including online harassment; racist, bigoted and divisive content; terrorist and right-wing calls for radicalization; as well as unidentified use of social media for political advertising by foreign and domestic actors. To mitigate these societal ills, carefully crafted policy that balances civil liberties and the need for security must be implemented in line with the latest cybersecurity developments. According to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), private online service providers are free from liability for content posted on their sites, with some exceptions for child pornography, human trafficking, and other federal offenses. Social media freedom has empowered state and non-state actors with the means and know how to co-opt the media landscape. For example, in 2016 Russia used Facebook to micro-targets ads at Americans in order to sway the presidential election. This environment has also allowed "lone-wolf" attackers to use social media to broadcast violence. In 2019, the New Zealand mosque mass shooter live-streamed the attacks. Self-regulation by social media companies has thus far failed to address the growing threat to safety and democracy through suspect online content. The lack of control and regulation will continue to leave media content in a frightening vacuum, as foreign powers like Russia, and domestic and international extremists become ever more skilled at using social media to advance their agendas. The introduction and evolution of AI technology that is now capable of creating "deep fake" video content, using bots to micro-target populations with ads, and participate in human-like conversations, presents imminent future dangers of exponentially multiplying the current threats. Historically, in line with widely accepted journalistic standards of impartiality and accuracy, print publication editors at major news organizations applied a strict standard of ethical journalism before publishing content. As a result, they had the editorial power to prevent harmful content from reaching major audiences. Until the 1980's the "Big Three" media channels dominated American television, providing similar oversight in television. The interpretation of news by beloved newscasters like Walter Cronkite and Peter Jennings had the trust of the American public. Today, the editorial monopoly previously held by major news networks and print publications is being contested by numerous Internet sources. Falling print subscription rates have resulted in the collapse of the print publishing industry, with many major newspapers closing their doors or significantly diminishing the scope of coverage. Individuals, foreign interests, and anyone with a social media account and the ability to "crack" the code of social media distribution is capable of reaching audiences as large as major news sources like The New York Times or NBC News. According to James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), this new Internet and media structure creates "an absence of mediation" that is present in traditional media in the form of editors, or in a library in the form of a librarian. As a result, he argues, "fiction and fact blend easily." The biggest social media companies (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter) have both precipitated and exploited this growing media vacuum. According to a 2018 Pew Research study, roughly two-thirds of Americans get their news on social media, with Facebook accounting for 43 percent and YouTube for 21 percent of content. In his book Social Media and the Public Interest, Philip Napoli argues that coders and engineers are now on par with editors and journalists when it comes to crafting and disseminating media content. In the U.S., free speech has historically been adamantly protected, and potential infringement on it via social media regulation is anathema to anti-regulators. However, social media presents increasingly more dangers than traditional First Amendment expressions like spoken word. In the online sphere, "natural" forms of social regulation have become obsolete. Anonymity of Internet postings limits the ability of society to "penalize" the actor who chooses to use socially suspect language or ideas. For example, in real life, in-person harassment may cause physical retaliation, while repetition of controversial and fringe ideas can cause social ostracism, affecting the future expression of such anti-social behaviors. Online, anti-social personalities meet their equals and unite in their transgressions. Security is the foundation of a free society, and is foundational for the freedom to vote in a fair and free environment. Today many Americans feel a lack of adequate security when faced with revelations of foreign interference in domestic elections, or instances of terrorists and extremists using social media platforms to conduct operations to murder and maim. The sheer size of the social media market in news delivery, as well as the numerous instances of social media being used for harmful ends, are powerful reasons why the freedom of social media must be limited with carefully crafted, democratically discussed regulations. Without it, our society is giving the reigns of our security, the direction of our value system, and a healthy functioning of our election cycle, to uncontrollable and unpredictable forces, or worse yet, to malicious actors who act with ill intent against the public interest. I propose the following first steps to achieve effective social media regulation: 1. The government must create a clear set of standards for social media communication, and compel compliance The development of new laws and policy should be the outcome of engagement with the private sector, the security community, as well as international actors in order to design a system upon consensus and multi-disciplinary, balanced set of views. For example, 2018 legislation proposed in the U.S. Senate aimed to protect the right of the population not to be targeted and misled by social media micro-targeted content and political ads placed by foreign powers. The "Honest Ads Act" proposes compelling social media companies to disclose their advertising methods. The "Bot Disclosure Accountability Act" proposes the creation of limits on the use of automation behind ads on social media. Further legislation must be developed in order to assure transparency behind ads and memes and allow readers of social media to become educated consumers, making educated choices based on disclosures about who placed the ads and content, and who provided the funding for the content. 2. The government must actively engage in multilateral negotiations with international partners to establish a base standard of behavior in the social sphere, and define what constitutes a cyber-information attack or cyber attacks Russia has weaponized the information sphere to spread disinformation during the 2016 elections in the U.S., and has used these tactics during military action in Georgia and Ukraine, in order to confuse public opinion and win military conflicts. In order to prevent further attacks, the U.S. must define the "red lines" that foreign actors must not cross, or else risk some specified retaliation from the United States. 3. The United States should follow and evaluate the outcomes of social media regulation already executed in other countries, and base domestic regulation on best practices For example, Singapore's recent legislation criminalized fake news, as defined within the discretion of the government. Violators who don't comply with government requests are penalized with hefty fines. Germany now regulates social media content via the Network Enforcement Act, aka NetzDG, by mandating that social media providers comply with government guidelines on blocking hate speech, defamation, and other illegal content. Fines go up to $56 million per violation. 4. The government should continue to provide research funding for private firms, the government, and academic institutions to advance the use of machine learning and AI in the spheres of social media "clean-up" Using automated regulation is a cumbersome and nascent exercise. Current use of AI to delete offensive content has the potential of making mistakes, and is too labor intensive to moderate every single social media message posted online. As a result, significant funding into this field is crucial in order to balance targeted content removal with constitutional free speech protections. A successful example of automated content regulation is Google's Redirect Method, which uses an AI algorithm to guide the users to content opposing extremism if they seek out offensive content like terrorists messaging.

In the U.S., where media access is varied and free and journalistic integrity continues to be a celebrated standard, there is a false feeling of security in regards to the quality, fairness, and truthfulness of information that people consume. Because the media is not used as a tool of government control as in a dictatorial state, it is easy to forget that the media can have powerful effects on their psyche, emotions, consumer choices, choices of jobs, and social behaviors. Continuing without regulation out of fear of undue government control over free speech results in embracing the steady flow of harmful content generated haphazardly by multiple parties on social media, as a continuing threat the public interest.

Rita Valkovskaya is a Master of Public Administration student at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs focusing on security, emerging technologies, and Russian and Eurasian affairs. She is a graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. She currently works as a graduate researcher at the Syracuse University Institute for Security Policy and Law, where she conducts research into the Russian technology sector. Rita's future goals are to influence policy in order to serve and better the local and global community. With a former professional background in luxury manufacturing and entrepreneurship, Rita combines her passion for global affairs and security with a deep understanding of business, global supply chains, and the power of image creation in the media. In her free time, Rita loves to hike, kayak, explore the outdoors, and travel.

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Keeping Your Students (and Yourself) Safe on Social Media: A Checklist

Topics:   Classroom Management Privacy & Security Digital Citizenship

Learn how to keep personal information confidential on social media.

Social media is an increasingly important part of students' lives. In fact, the average teen spends nearly an hour and a half a day using social media . Unfortunately, the same study reveals that tweens and teens spend on average just 7 to 12 minutes per day on creative activities. To be true digital citizens, our students need teachers who model prosocial, creative, and responsible social media use.

So why are only 1 in 10 teachers using social media professionally ? It can be a scary and confusing prospect when you're working in a school environment, from FERPA compliance issues to headline-making incidents. It's no wonder many teachers avoid it entirely. In fact, 81% of teachers express concerns about the possible pitfalls that arise from mixing professional work with social media.

While social media can pose risks to privacy, these risks can be managed with informed, intentional use. There's also a huge upside: Many teachers have used social media successfully to share best practices, provide an authentic audience for student work, cultivate digital citizenship among their students, and build more connected school communities.

So, if you're looking to take the plunge—or already have—review this non-exhaustive list of best practices for protecting privacy and setting a responsible example of safe sharing in your classroom.

To be true digital citizens, our students need teachers who model prosocial, creative, and responsible social media use.

Start Here: Three Questions to Ask Whenever You Share on Social Media 

Before you dig into the extensive checklist below, some of which can feel a little overwhelming or aspirational, I want to offer you something you can start doing now . Here are three questions you should ask before you post anything from your classroom or school on social media:

• Is there anything in this post that personally identifies me or my students?
• Do I have explicit permission to post it?
• Is what I'm posting furthering the learning of my students or other learners? 

Taking time to pause, think, and consider these questions will get you a long way.

Now on to the full list!

Establish and Apply Transparent, FERPA-Compliant Policies

Locate and review your school or district's social media guidelines. Basically, everything you might do hinges on the existing policies that have been set up where you work, so check those out first. You should also look into your school or district's acceptable-use policy.

If guidelines don't exist, work with your administrators and tech specialists to set them up. You might discover your school or district doesn't have guidance available, or existing guidance is outdated or not readily available. If that's the case, let your administrators and tech leads know. 

Share and discuss your social media guidelines with students. Let students know the what , when , and how of social media in your classroom, and facilitate a discussion about the why —both the benefits of social media use and its risks. Get students' feedback, and encourage them to talk with you privately if they have sensitive concerns about their pictures or personal info making it out into the world. It goes without saying, but respect each student's wishes.

Use family consent/opt-out forms. If you're planning on sharing activities happening in your classroom, get consent from parents or caregivers. You might also advocate to have your school offer detailed opt-out forms for parents and caregivers.

Make a list of students whose parents and caregivers haven't given consent—and keep it private. Maintain and reference a private, secure list of students who've been opted out. Make sure to include the different types of things covered in your opt-out form.

Tune Up and Protect Devices and Accounts

 Strongly c onsider maintaining separate accounts for personal and professional use. This might be a rule already spelled out by your school or district. If not, it's something to seriously consider.

 Regularly a udit the privacy settings on all of your social media accounts. Social media platforms each come with their own risks to personal info and data. You'll want to do a deep dive into the privacy settings of each. Since these settings also change, you'll want to check back on them regularly. To get started, turn off all location-sharing data. You might also want to  set your personal Twitter account to "Protected"  so only those who follow you can access your tweets. Also look closely at  Facebook's extensive privacy controls . Note, however, that Facebook's "privacy" settings are really about visibility  of your information to other users . Facebook, as well as other social media platforms, can still see everything. And in some cases, third-party apps you connect to through social media can get special access as well.

Consider regularly archiving or deleting social media content. Teachers need to be mindful of their digital footprints too! You might want to set up a schedule for either archiving or deleting content you've posted on social media. You can prune your content and just keep the best stuff, or remove it all entirely and start fresh. If you're the sentimental type and can't bring yourself to fully delete stuff, social media platforms will often let you unpublish or archive content. Purging content regularly helps reduce your footprint and also makes sure that stuff you post involving your students isn't hanging around forever. Take note that there are third-party services that help you delete batches of content, but be mindful of the privacy and security of these tools. When in doubt, do it yourself.

Turn off geo, GPS, or location tagging for photos on your mobile devices. Also, audit which apps access your location. Mobile devices and apps notoriously grab and use your location in any way they can. This includes embedding location data in photos you take and tracking where your device is at any given time. It's best to turn off geo, GPS, or location tags on your photos. After you've done that, take some time to dig into the location permissions or settings on your mobile device. Look at how your device uses your location, as well as what apps use your location and when. Restrict these permissions as needed.

Revise your bio and profile on your social media accounts. Check in on the private and public biographical and profile information that's shared on each of your accounts. Make sure to remove any details that could pinpoint your location, school, or personal identity, as necessary.

Learn about the social media platforms your students use, even if you don't use them at school. If you're teaching digital citizenship, it's important to stay up to date with the social media your students use. This doesn't mean you have to use them yourself, but try to know the basics. This helps you understand the challenges your students are facing and host more relevant discussions.

 Get photo-editing tools on your devices to easily edit out sensitive information. Your phone, tablet, or computer likely has built-in photo-editing tools for cropping photos or blurring parts of the image. These tools can be useful when you're using social media in your classroom, because they help remove sensitive info before you post. There are also a ton of dedicated apps you can use, many of them free, to do on-the-fly edits.

  Walk around your classroom and look for any visible student or class information. If you're a classroom teacher, you probably have a lot of stuff on the walls and whiteboards of your room. Some of this might contain sensitive info, from logins and passwords to student names, class codes for apps, and grades. Take inventory of everything in your room and either remove these postings or make sure to keep them out of any media you record.

 Regularly review the sharing settings for your digital files and folders. Take a look at how you're organizing students' digital records on your computer. Make sure info isn't being shared with anyone who isn't meant to see it and/or legally authorized to access it.

Create a digital file naming convention that doesn't use first or last names. Remember: It's not just what's inside the picture or artifact you share, but how that file is titled that could disclose students' info (for example, "JasminePhillips_01.jpg"). That's why it's best to figure out a system for naming files that doesn't use students' names.

Ignore comments and direct/private messages asking for personal information on social media platforms, even from someone you know. Scams, schemes, and spam seem to be everywhere on social media, as well as in our emails, text messages, and voicemails. If you receive an unsolicited request for personal info—even if it's from someone you think you know—it's best to just ignore the request. If the request came from someone you think you know, follow up with them later. Ideally, use a different method than they used to contact you (for example, don't respond in the same social platform or text/email chain). Best of all: Talk to them in person.

Before You Post: Things to Look Out For

Avoid instantly sharing any picture or video you take. Take some time to look closely at what you've recorded, ideally on a bigger screen than a phone, or at least by zooming in and looking closely at everything that's visible. You'll be surprised at what you catch (for example, student names on worksheets, classroom passwords on Post-its, and profile information on a computer monitor). To help, here's some things to look for:

The faces and names of students whose parents haven't given explicit consent for sharing. Unless you've made some arrangement with students and parents or caregivers, always make sure that students' faces and names are obscured. Watch out for reflections.

Addresses, birth dates, phone numbers, and Social Security numbers. While you might have consent to share students' faces or names, never share other personal info that can be used to locate a student or steal their identity.

Posts that involve your students in ads, product promotion, or marketing. Social media can be a great way to offer feedback to developers of educational products, but consider how posts about products that include your students can make them nonconsensual spokespeople.

Names on desks, jerseys, and name tags.  It's easy to overlook these disclosures of personal info.

School and district names on t-shirts, posters, and buses. If you want to keep your location private, look out for school and district logos and names in your environment and in your photos.

Grades, assessments, or any part of a student's educational record. This is a core part of FERPA and casts a wide net. So, when in doubt about something that might count, don't share. Pay particular attention to how you reply to publicly posted student work.

Student handwriting. A lot of what FERPA considers personally identifiable is pretty common-sense (names, addresses, student ID numbers), but you should also know that FERPA protects biometric data as well, including handwriting.

 Local points of interest . It's pretty easy for internet sleuths to figure out where you are if you include any distinctive buildings, signs, monuments, or landscape features. Try to obscure these things or frame photos in a way that looks generic.

Practice in a Safe, Classroom-Only Space

 Consider using a classroom-only technology, such as a learning management system or messaging app, to share safely and practice digital citizenship. To give you and your students practice with sharing work, participating in conversations, and connecting with an audience, you might want to try out a tool you're already using, such as an LMS, that allows for media-rich, private sharing and commenting just between students and teachers. Some also let families join in!

Get Families Involved

Ask students' family members to follow your best practices . Encourage families to follow your school's social media guidelines when they visit campus, or when they post or comment on school-related social media pages.

Share your guidelines and best practices with parents and caregivers. Host a family night focused on using social media and devices responsibly at school and home.

Download an Infographic Version of This Article

Download a Printable Version of This Article

Review or teach one of our lessons on privacy and security .

Take our one-hour interactive training course on protecting student privacy. In this interactive course, you'll learn how to assess the privacy and security of products commonly used in the classroom.

Further Reading

Explore NYC Schools' guidelines for social media use . Take particular note of how they tune guidelines to each audience, and focus on digital citizenship over fearmongering.

Learn a bit more about federal law and guidelines around student data privacy . Teachers might want to check out this FERPA 101 video in particular.

Tanner was Editorial Director, Learning Content at Common Sense Education where he led the editorial team responsible for edtech reviews and resources. Previously, he taught writing and media literacy for six years, and has a PhD from the University of California, Riverside. His research on video games and culture has been published in journals, books, and online, presented at conferences nationwide, and continues to be cited and taught in classes around the world. Prior to joining Common Sense Education, Tanner worked as a curriculum developer and researcher at GameDesk, helping to design and launch Educade.org and the PlayMaker School. While at GameDesk, he co-designed the United Colonies alternate reality game (ARG) with Mike Minadeo. This ARG is to date one of the most sophisticated to be implemented in a K-12 environment. Outside of education, Tanner has been a Technical Writer-Editor for the Department of Defense, a web designer, and co-editor and co-creator of a print literary journal.

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How to Use Social Media Wisely and Mindfully

It was no one other than Facebook’s former vice president for user growth, Chamath Palihapitiya, who advised people to take a “hard break” from social media. “We have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works,” he said recently .

His comments echoed those of Facebook founding president Sean Parker . Social media provides a “social validation feedback loop (‘a little dopamine hit…because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post’),” he said. “That’s exactly the thing a hacker like myself would come up with because you’re exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.”

Are their fears overblown? What is social media doing to us as individuals and as a society?

Since over 70 percent of American teens and adults are on Facebook and over 1.2 billion users visit the site daily—with the average person spending over 90 minutes a day on all social media platforms combined—it’s vital that we gain wisdom about the social media genie, because it’s not going back into the bottle. Our wish to connect with others and express ourselves may indeed come with unwanted side effects.

The problems with social media

Social media is, of course, far from being all bad. There are often tangible benefits that follow from social media use. Many of us log on to social media for a sense of belonging, self-expression, curiosity, or a desire to connect. Apps like Facebook and Twitter allow us to stay in touch with geographically dispersed family and friends, communicate with like-minded others around our interests, and join with an online community to advocate for causes dear to our hearts.

Honestly sharing about ourselves online can enhance our feelings of well-being and online social support, at least in the short term. Facebook communities can help break down the stigma and negative stereotypes of illness, while social media, in general, can “serve as a spring board” for the “more reclusive…into greater social integration,” one study suggested.

But Parker and Palihapitiya are on to something when they talk about the addictive and socially corrosive qualities of social media. Facebook “addiction” (yes, there’s a test for this) looks similar on an MRI scan in some ways to substance abuse and gambling addictions. Some users even go to extremes to chase the highs of likes and followers. Twenty-six-year-old Wu Yongning recently fell to his death in pursuit of selfies precariously taken atop skyscrapers.

Facebook can also exacerbate envy . Envy is nothing if not corrosive of the social fabric, turning friendship into rivalry, hostility, and grudges. Social media tugs at us to view each other’s “highlight reels,” and all too often, we feel ourselves lacking by comparison. This can fuel personal growth, if we can turn envy into admiration, inspiration, and self-compassion ; but, instead, it often causes us to feel dissatisfied with ourselves and others.

For example, a 2013 study by Ethan Kross and colleagues showed quite definitively that the more time young adults spent on Facebook, the worse off they felt. Participants were texted five times daily for two weeks to answer questions about their well-being, direct social contact, and Facebook use. The people who spent more time on Facebook felt significantly worse later on, even after controlling for other factors such as depression and loneliness. 

Interestingly, those spending significant time on Facebook, but also engaging in moderate or high levels of direct social contact, still reported worsening well-being. The authors hypothesized that the comparisons and negative emotions triggered by Facebook were carried into real-world contact, perhaps damaging the healing power of in-person relationships.

More recently, Holly Shakya and Nicholas Christakis studied 5,208 adult Facebook users over two years, measuring life satisfaction and mental and physical health over time. All these outcomes were worse with greater Facebook use, and the way people used Facebook (e.g., passive or active use, liking, clicking, or posting) didn’t seem to matter.

“Exposure to the carefully curated images from others’ lives leads to negative self-comparison, and the sheer quantity of social media interaction may detract from more meaningful real-life experiences,” the researchers concluded.

How to rein in social media overuse

So, what can we do to manage the downsides of social media? One idea is to log out of Facebook completely and take that “hard break.” Researcher Morten Tromholt of Denmark found that after taking a one-week break from Facebook, people had higher life satisfaction and positive emotions compared to people who stayed connected. The effect was especially pronounced for “heavy Facebook users, passive Facebook users, and users who tend to envy others on Facebook.”

We can also become more mindful and curious about social media’s effects on our minds and hearts, weighing the good and bad. We should ask ourselves how social media makes us feel and behave, and decide whether we need to limit our exposure to social media altogether (by logging out or deactivating our accounts) or simply modify our social media environment. Some people I’ve spoken with find ways of cleaning up their newsfeeds—from hiding everyone but their closest friends to “liking” only reputable news, information, and entertainment sources.

Knowing how social media affects our relationships, we might limit social media interactions to those that support real-world relationships. Instead of lurking or passively scrolling through a never-ending bevy of posts, we can stop to ask ourselves important questions, like What are my intentions? and What is this online realm doing to me and my relationships?

We each have to come to our own individual decisions about social media use, based on our own personal experience. Grounding ourselves in the research helps us weigh the good and bad and make those decisions. Though the genie is out of the bottle, we may find, as Shakya and Christakis put it, that “online social interactions are no substitute for the real thing,” and that in-person, healthy relationships are vital to society and our own individual well-being. We would do well to remember that truth and not put all our eggs in the social media basket.

About the Author

Ravi Chandra

Ravi Chandra is a psychiatrist, writer, and compassion educator in San Francisco, and a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Here’s his linktree .

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Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Social Media — Should Social Media Be Regulated

Should Social Media Be Regulated

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Published: Sep 5, 2023

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Protecting user well-being, preserving free expression, addressing algorithmic bias, encouraging ethical practices, conclusion: navigating a complex landscape.

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25 Easy Tips for Using Social Media Responsibly

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This is great info, thanks for giving me some ideas on how to start a dialogue with my teen!

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Josh's presentation about social media was unbelievably fantastic. Our students learned so much about what kids should and shouldn't be doing. The fact that it is such a thoughtful process made it all worthwhile.

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Educator Webinar Attendee

This webinar is a very helpful eye-opener on the apps that are popular with my students.

Horror stories about teens and social media often include some serious consequences, like missed job opportunities or college rejections. But if students learn to use social media responsibly and in a safe way, it can have some big benefits by helping them connect, share, and learn. So how do you teach your teens to be good digital citizens without lecturing them?

We asked 25 experts for tips to teach kids how to stay safe, positive , and responsible online.

1. You’re in control of your feed. Recognize what’s unhealthy and hit that unfollow button

Lisa Honold, Director of the Center for Online Safety

Remember, you’re in charge of your content. You can use social media to uplift your life, connect with friends, create content, and entertain. Or you can get used by it when it sucks you in, and then you feel bad afterward. It’s healthy to manage your feed and unfollow/delete accounts that are consistently false news, negative, mean, rude, or bullying. If you notice you feel anxious or irritated after spending time on a certain app or account, that’s your body’s signal that you should spend less time there. It’s not healthy.

After all, the app’s goal is to hook you and make you want to spend more time there. They do that by suggesting the next video or account to follow, through pop up notifications and sounds, through bright colors and buttons. And it’s not just you, teens, who are struggling. Adults have a hard time too. Ideally, you could have an open conversation with your parents about your family using social media more mindfully.

2. Find a purpose to your screen time so that it doesn’t become a pastime

‍ Josh Ochs, Founder of SmartSocial.com

Brainstorm 2-3 things you want to be known for when people look you up online. This exercise will help you find your screen time purpose so that social media doesn’t become a pastime. Once you know what you want to be known for, it’s easier to decide whether your Instagram post or YouTube comment is going to help you achieve your goals (or hurt your digital footprint).

The majority of your social media posts should be about the 2-3 things you want to be known for. It’s okay to be silly on social media as long as you keep your posts are positive and full of gratitude.

3. Highlight your best self and turn all social media platforms into a living/breathing portfolio

Chad Dorman, Founder, Leonard Andrew Consulting

Social media is a living resume that showcases your character. The things that make you authentically YOU? Awards you’ve won? The things you are passionate about? You definitely want to make sure that these are the content pieces that you’re presenting on the Internet for all to see.

You’re already geared towards documenting just about every moment of your life on social, so don’t miss out on an opportunity to share your latest A+ paper or your creation from art class. Showcasing you who are, as well as your activities and interests, is something that colleges are looking for. Make sure to impress them! They want more than just transcripts and an academic ace – they want someone who shows passion, who is authentic, and who will contribute positively to their campus. Post positively, publish proudly!

4. With great power, comes great responsibility

‍ Meredith Essalat, Principal, Author of The Overly Honest Teacher

If students are old enough to have their own social media account, then they are old enough to understand the risks and responsibilities that come with this. I always discuss the perils and risks of social media and other online forums directly with my students. When they chose to make a TikTok at recess and film it in their school uniforms, we talked about voyeurism and the danger that comes from letting their location be known. When they goaded a group of neighboring students into fighting on campus by posting mean comments on an Instagram post, we talked about the impact of language and the ramifications that result in inciting violence.

I teach my students about the vacancy of online anonymity and being certain that the persona they are putting out on social media jives with who they are and how they want the world to know them.

5. Social media abstinence isn’t the way, planning is key

Jennifer Walden, Director of Operations, Wikilawn

As the mom of a tween, I’ve really had to strategize on the best ways to keep her safe. Just telling her she can’t use social media isn’t a solution, as much as I wish it was. It’s the primary means of communication and social validation for her age group, and when all of her friends are using it but she isn’t, that becomes an even bigger issue.

That said, I do worry not just about predators and the usual dangers, but about her posting things she shouldn’t, and the potential for her to be bullied relentlessly. She and I have discussed several instances of cyberbullying, making a plan for what to do if it ever happens to her. She knows to disengage and come talk to me or her dad. The worst thing she can do is shut herself away and let everything they’re saying just exist in an echo chamber.

6. Never post criminal activities

David Reischer, Attorney & CEO of LegalAdvice.com

The most important tip for tweens and teens when using social media is not to post anything that is evidence of unlawful activity. Tweens and teens may not have an appreciation that posting some types of content can be unlawful. Posts that are defamatory, incite violence, or include hate speech are just some examples of posts that can land a young person in trouble.

Posting criminal activities or conspiring with other social media members to riot, protest or loot can also be used as evidence against a tween or teen. A young person that is passionate about social justice or other political cause is permitted to post on social media under the First Amendment Right to Free Speech but there needs to be a consideration when a posting might cross over into a criminal act. Be careful out there on the Internet. Posting unlawful messages or evidence of unlawful conduct can land a tween or teen in hot water.

7. Research apps before you trust them

‍ Ben Taylor, Founder of Home Working Club ‍ My number one tip for parents is to research things before you trust them. The ultimate research tool is right there in your hands in the form of a web browser. That means you can check if a news report is factually correct before you share it, find out if a new app is actually out to scam you, and determine whether that fun new photo game is actually harvesting your personal details. It only takes seconds to check these things out, so don’t just use social media blindly. It doesn’t take much extra time and effort to stay much safer online.

8. Be aware of the content you’re consuming, and what that content seems to want from you

‍ Melanie Squire, Founder of and Therapist with Freedom Counseling

Social media can certainly offers numerous benefits, but as a therapist, I have more and more parents expressing concern that digital technology is affecting the emotion and social lives of their children. Most youth and young adults are quick to defend their socially networked lives, claiming that social media helps them feel more connected to their friends and provides critical support during difficult times. These benefits are why it’s so important to educate new social media users about healthy habits.

Use social media to supplement real world interests:

Do you like Hiking? Follow pages that educate you about the activity, and share information about hikes near you.

Is makeup your thing? Find how-tos that you can emulate, and use in your everyday life. Social media is about building communities of interest, but being a part of a community that encourages action of its members is better than one offering passive interactions.

Ask yourself, why do you like a page, or social community?

Do the communities you’re a part of make you want to learn more or participate offline?

Can you have non-digital conversations about these topics? Certainly some forms of social content are for entertainment or important to staying informed.

Not every interaction needs to be pushing you to take some real world action. However, it is important to be aware of the content you’re consuming, and what that content seems to want from you.

9. Focus on what you really enjoy to avoid overuse

‍ Jakub Kliszczak, Marketing Specialist at CrazyCall

Oftentimes, people have all of the available apps on their phones. Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , LinkedIn , TikTok , Snapchat , and more. This leads to a constant stream of social media binging – you start with one app to switch to another to switch to another and the cycle continues. Ask yourself what type of content do you really enjoy. Do you care about what your friends post on Facebook? Or do you prefer visual content on Instagram? Maybe you enjoy the more professional content from LinkedIn.

Answer that question and limit your usage to just one or two social media platforms. Surely, you won’t stop using social media but you’ll limit the time you spend on your phone.

10. Think twice before posting on social media

‍ Chane Steiner, CEO of Crediful

Start with a conversation and remind your students that whatever they put out there will never go away. Even if they delete it. Even if they unshare it or ask for it to be taken down. The internet moves so quickly that by the time you realize you don’t want it out there, it’s already too late. So think twice before posting something. Are you comfortable living with that choice forever?

Urge your kids to think about what the person seeing it will feel or think. Will their post start a fight? Are they hurting someone? Are they negatively impacting someone’s life? Have your students think about what it would feel like if someone did that to them. If it would make them feel bad, it’s probably not okay.

Finally, it’s important for tweens and teens to understand that they are not as anonymous as they think. The internet leaves a trail everywhere for everyone. If that makes them uncomfortable, they probably shouldn’t be doing what they’re doing.

11. Social media can showcase a student’s aptitude

Natalie Bidnick Andreas, Digital Strategy Consultant

‍ Don’t avoid having a social media footprint. Parents may “outlaw” certain platforms due to their potential to cause harm, but my research shows that not existing at all online can actually be more detrimental to a student’s future college applications and job prospects. Instead, parents should counsel their children to see social media as a public tool – their “calling card” into the world.

Platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram can showcase a student’s aptitude in sports, creative projects, travel, academic pursuits, and overall communication skills. Students can certainly still post pictures of the homecoming dance and the football game, but space should also be dedicated to their passions. It’s not about being fake – it’s more about showcasing a student’s favorite aspects of life.

If parents are apprehensive about their child’s participation in social media, I recommend working through the “front yard test” as a family. Everything posted on social media should pass the “front yard test”; that is, it should be appropriate enough to put on a large sign in the front yard or other public community space. Parents can ask their children: “How would you feel if all your future teachers and bosses saw this post on our front lawn?” If the child would feel ashamed, it’s not fit to post.

The “front yard test” exercise gets students thinking ahead to college and beyond. After all, no matter how “anonymous” they may try to be online, future schools and employers will be able to access their digital footprint. It’s up to each child and their family to plan ahead and to post accordingly.

12. Follow your children on social media

‍ Betsy Furler, Author and Speaker

‍ Responsible use of social media is critical for students today. Students need to be aware that what they post on social media may be available online forever. If they don’t want their grandparents, teachers, or future employers to see something, it shouldn’t be online.

The easiest method of staying safe and responsible online is for parents to follow their children online. This ensures oversight in case there is an issue, as well as a “check and balance” of content.

13. Go through the terms of service with your children

Amy Vernon, Adjunct Professor at New York University ‍ Parents can teach their children digital safety by going through a site’s terms of service, line-by-line, and explaining it to them. Consider reading it verbatim and then explain what each clause means. At the end, explain that if they accepted the terms, they need to abide by these rules, or their accounts could be deleted.

It makes an impression and encourages students to ask a lot of questions. Students will be much more thoughtful about how they use social media and how they behave online.

14. Logging time spent on social media can be eye opening

‍ Dr. Tim Elmore, Growing Leaders

‍ Ask to meet and talk about the influence and the hours consumed by social media. Often, logging in the hours a teen spends online can be eye-opening for them. Many spend the equivalent of a full-time job staring at a screen.

You can also do the following:

• Ask to scroll through their posts with them.
• ~~This could be awkward, but actually sit with them and look at the posts uploaded both by them and to them. Discuss what you see together.
• Interpret the tone and content of the posts and what it suggests about their character.
• ~~This may feel cheesy or cliché, but ask what someone looking at their posts might conclude if they didn’t know them.
• Discuss how employers, coaches, instructors or mentors might view their sites.
• ~~Next, talk about how students (grads) have lost their chance at a job because an employer viewed their social media posts.
• Ask them if they have ever noticed an attitude change in themselves after reading or posting on social media.
• ~~This requires transparency, but discuss how you, or they, can experience a negative attitude or impulsive reactions online.
• Suggest they follow this rule: I will only post what I want my reputation to be ten years from now.
• Finally, give them the long view: What impact does this post have or what reputation will this post give me a decade from now?

15. Start a discussion early on

Varda Meyers Epstein, Kars4Kids

‍ If you teach your teens the following points early on, they will develop responsible social media habits:

Never take over another person’s thread to drive home a point. Don’t go ad hominem when you disagree with someone; always remain respectful and calm. Thank and tag people when you share something they shared first. If you don’t have something nice to say, it’s best not to say it. Vet friend requests carefully – if you can’t see enough information to make an informed decision, it’s best to decline the request and mark it as spam. Don’t share anything you wouldn’t want your mom to see and don’t overshare.

16. Teach accountability

Tom Kersting, Valley Family Counseling

‍ It starts with parents. Parents must first ask the following question: Is my child ready for a smartphone and social media? Don’t worry if the other kids your children’s age have access to smartphones and social media. Instead focus on your intuition.

Inform your child that there will be consequences right away if there are any social media mishaps. This means taking access away and following through with the rules that were agreed upon. Accountability is the key; it’s how kids learn.

Students must be educated by the school with regards to digital citizenship and there must be consequences if rules are violated. This sends a strong message that social media must be used responsibly.

17. Encourage students to use technology meaningfully

Troy Dvorak, Psychology Professor

‍ I encourage my college students to text, tweet, and post information they learn during class when we take periodic class breaks. Teachers can create blogs and Facebook pages for their classes and offer credit to students who participate meaningfully. I also encourage students to follow people and organizations relevant to their major. The use of technology in classrooms is ubiquitous now so, rather than police it, teachers should have students make great use of it. If you keep them busy using technology for learning, they don’t have time to use it for other things during class.

18. Remind teens that nothing is private online

Dave Delaney, Futureforth

‍ First and foremost, never put anything online you don’t want your educators, future employers, peers, and parents to see. Deleted items can still live on servers. People can take screenshots of posts. Private accounts can be hacked. Nothing is 100% private online.

Students should actively grow and nurture their network on social media. Take time to get to know people and find ways to serve them.

19. Guide students on how to use social media effectively

Kristen Moon, Moon Prep

‍ The college admissions process is competitive enough; students need be cautious to not sabotage themselves. Students need to assume that any picture, post, or tweet that is posted will be seen by the admissions officer at their dream college. Teach students to only put material out there that can benefit them. Students should create a LinkedIn page that is interactive and shows pictures and videos of their accomplishments, interests, and passions. Include the LinkedIn profile URL with the college application. This is a great way for students to make their resume come to life and show how they are using social media responsively and productively.

20. Students shouldn’t count on anonymity

‍ Patrick Fogarty, Valley Stream 30

‍ As simple as it sounds, if students wouldn’t say it in person, they shouldn’t type it. Students can’t count on a veil of anonymity on Twitter or any other social network. If someone wants to find out who you are, they will. Encourage students (and everyone else) to schedule their tweets using an app like HootSuite or Buffer, so they can type out whatever they want to say, then schedule it to send in an hour or two. That way, students have plenty of time to reconsider their posts before they go public.

21. Advise students to THINK about what they are going to post

‍ Matthew Nance, Kiwanis International

‍ T – is it Truthful H – does it Help? I – does it Inspire? N – is it Nice or Necessary? K – is it Kind?

Is their post truthful? Does their post/tweet reflect the true nature of the situation? Is their post only telling one side of the story? Does the post misrepresent the situation or leave out details that matter?

Is the post helpful? Does their post/tweet help someone else understand something? Is the post helping their audience understand how they feel? Is the post helping someone get information?

Is the post inspiring? Does the post/tweet encourage and lift up others? Does the post inspire someone to take action? Does the post inspire the reader to be their best self?

Is the post nice or necessary? Does the post/tweet respect others? Is the post an opinion otherwise not being expressed? Does the post put others down? Does the post support others? Does the post serve those who are reading it?

A single tweet or post may not meet all of these criterion. For example, a student might be tweeting in support of their favorite team or wishing someone happy birthday. These tweets may not qualify as a perfect “THINK” post, but they do not violate any of the above questions. Therefore, no harm, no foul.

22. Understand the pros and cons of social media MoniQue Hoffman 12 Easy Tips for Using Social Media Responsibly MoniQue Hoffman MoniQue Hoffman, QtheBrand, @QtheBrand Students have more control over their future than they think when it comes to using social media. It’s important to understand how social media could make or break future educational or professional opportunities. Each student should complete a series of exercises that allow them to define who they are, who they are not, and what their biggest fear is when it comes to being misunderstood or misinterpreted. Analyzing past posts against their answers should put things into perspective for the student. Over time, the pros and cons to being socially responsible on social media become very clear.

23. Become a source of useful information

‍ Ilena Di Toro, Just Movie Posters

‍ When using social media, be a source that gives useful information to others, not a drain that wastes other’s time. Students can either post an infinite number of selfies, gossip messages, or, worse, hate messages, which drains the viewer. Conversely, they can post pictures of achievements (sports or hobbies) or articles from websites, broadcast, or print media, which are useful sources of information for the viewer. Providing helpful information online benefits the reader and it also boosts your reputation as somewhat of an “expert”.

24. Manage what is posted online

‍ Dan Konzen, University of Phoenix

‍ Practicing responsible social media is very simple. Students can easily build a strong, professional online brand by managing what is posted about them online:

Perform a search on yourself to see what your online brand looks like. Start by googling your name and where you’re from. Go back and clean up what you can, making sure to remove any inappropriate posts and pictures from you or about you. Keep head shots as professional as possible, especially on sites like LinkedIn, which can be easily found by future employers. Create an alert to see what is posted about you online and on social media in the future. Ultimately, students should think about what is posted online as a digital face tattoo; even if it is removed, it still leaves a scar.

25. Urge students to question their content before they post

‍ Johnna Ithier, SpeakLIFE

‍ ‍ Urge students to ask themselves the following questions before they post anything online:

• Is the post TRUE or a rumor?
• Is the post HELPFUL or harmful?
• Is the post INFORMATIONAL or gossip?
• Is the post NEEDED or irrelevant?
• Is the post KIND or harsh?

If the post is not any of these things, or you have to question it, you probably shouldn’t post it. Once you hit send, post, etc… the message is no longer yours and the receiver can do anything they want with the message.

A lot of responsibility comes with using the internet. Parents and educators should take a proactive approach and help kids find positive ways to use social media before they get their first digital device or social media account. Establishing digital boundaries and open communication from the start could help prevent them from posting something that could cost them a dream opportunity in the future.

Before giving your student access to social media, parents can:

• Download each app and review the Terms of Service
• Start a discussion early on and consider using a Social Media Agreement
• Inform students that there will be consequences right away if there are any social media mishaps
• Remind teens that nothing is private online
• Urge students to question each piece of content before they post it

‍ Once your students are active on social media, parents can:

• Follow them on all of their social networks
• Encourage students to post content that showcases their aptitude
• Consider setting time limits
• Become a trusted resource for students when they have questions or feel uncomfortable about content they see on social media
• Stay involved and ask students what they are doing and who they are chatting with

Additional Resources

How to Use Screen Time Productively

Parents' Ultimate Guide to Snapchat

To learn more about video games visit our video games guide: Pros and Cons of Video Games

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Essay on Social Media for School Students and Children

500+ words essay on social media.

Social media is a tool that is becoming quite popular these days because of its user-friendly features. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more are giving people a chance to connect with each other across distances. In other words, the whole world is at our fingertips all thanks to social media. The youth is especially one of the most dominant users of social media. All this makes you wonder that something so powerful and with such a massive reach cannot be all good. Like how there are always two sides to a coin, the same goes for social media. Subsequently, different people have different opinions on this debatable topic. So, in this essay on Social Media, we will see the advantages and disadvantages of social media.

Advantages of Social Media

When we look at the positive aspect of social media, we find numerous advantages. The most important being a great device for education . All the information one requires is just a click away. Students can educate themselves on various topics using social media.

Moreover, live lectures are now possible because of social media. You can attend a lecture happening in America while sitting in India.

Furthermore, as more and more people are distancing themselves from newspapers, they are depending on social media for news. You are always updated on the latest happenings of the world through it. A person becomes more socially aware of the issues of the world.

In addition, it strengthens bonds with your loved ones. Distance is not a barrier anymore because of social media. For instance, you can easily communicate with your friends and relatives overseas.

Most importantly, it also provides a great platform for young budding artists to showcase their talent for free. You can get great opportunities for employment through social media too.

Another advantage definitely benefits companies who wish to promote their brands. Social media has become a hub for advertising and offers you great opportunities for connecting with the customer.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Disadvantages of Social Media

Despite having such unique advantages, social media is considered to be one of the most harmful elements of society. If the use of social media is not monitored, it can lead to grave consequences.

Thus, the sharing on social media especially by children must be monitored at all times. Next up is the addition of social media which is quite common amongst the youth.

This addiction hampers with the academic performance of a student as they waste their time on social media instead of studying. Social media also creates communal rifts. Fake news is spread with the use of it, which poisons the mind of peace-loving citizens.

In short, surely social media has both advantages and disadvantages. But, it all depends on the user at the end. The youth must particularly create a balance between their academic performances, physical activities, and social media. Excess use of anything is harmful and the same thing applies to social media. Therefore, we must strive to live a satisfying life with the right balance.

FAQs on Social Media

Q.1 Is social media beneficial? If yes, then how?

A.1 Social media is quite beneficial. Social Media offers information, news, educational material, a platform for talented youth and brands.

Q.2 What is a disadvantage of Social Media?

A.2 Social media invades your privacy. It makes you addicted and causes health problems. It also results in cyberbullying and scams as well as communal hatred.

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Responsible Use of Social Media

Social networks are one of the major modes of communication today and although their basic idea is built on the concept of connecting with friends and family; the impact of these websites have far outweighed their initial uses. These are forums where people can find friends and adversaries; get connected with like-minded individuals and lead the world to change in both positive and negative ways. The world has become very small due to the advent of these forums and levels of connectivity which was hitherto undreamt of; has suddenly reached everyone’s fingertips. People are still coming to terms with the vastness of the internet and getting used to knowing everything about everyone through these websites. In the meantime, the private corporations which built these social media are regularly collecting large amounts of personal data from unsuspecting users around the globe. This vast amount of data is then used for two things – firstly, to tailor content according to each user’s individual taste. The algorithms are set to understand the liking and disliking of every user and machine learning helps to improve on the advertisements and recommendations individually. Secondly, from all the files leaked by Edward Snowden in 2013, we now know Facebook, Amazon, Google and others work with the world’s governments in providing them with all this personal data so they can snoop on everyone under the guise of terrorism prevention.

This course will be designed to create digitally aware citizens who can utilize social media in a positive way and stay safe from addiction and breaches of privacy in the modern world.

The project is divided into three modules:

Module 1: Our Secrets, Their Secrets The first part explores the area of Social Media Intelligence or SOCMINT. The surveillance and collection of user’s personal information on social media and monitoring their posts and data to predict future behaviors and manipulate them for marketing and profit. This breach in privacy is possible because users are readily giving away their data unsuspectingly. So, the first part will guide students to: 1. Be aware of what they’re making public and limit the websites from monitoring personal data. 2. Be aware of the policies of social media sites and how to block cookies and extensions to ensure no additional information is given out. 3. Engage in Security and Privacy Check-ups provided by Google, Facebook and the like. 4. Familiarize themselves with all account settings, especially group settings so no potentially sensitive information is shared among a large crowd without realization. 5. Be aware that privacy has to be spread among friends and family too so they don’t make mistakes by sharing personal information without their knowledge.

Module 2: Eat, Breathe and Drink Content This will consist of the meaning, symptoms, causes and effects of social media addiction and how it has become an all-pervading problem in the modern world. The increase in sharing personal pictures of moments with friends brings into fore new disorders which include the likes of “FoMO” or Fear of Missing Out (added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2014). This leads to people going through a constant fear that something is happening and they’re missing out. Similar cases of “Cybersickness”, “Facebook Depression”, “Online Gaming Addiction” etcetera have become rampant. This part will cover: 1. The negative effects on mental health of addicted users and the categories of disorders that have newly developed because of this. 2. The negative effects on physical health of addicted users and how one can slowly destroy their body by getting consumed more and more. 3. How to overcome the obsessive need of checking social media constantly, avoiding selfie deaths, handling and reporting cyber bullying and ways to survive in the cut throat world of cowards hiding in anonymity behind their screens with evil intentions.

Module 3: Becoming Digital Celebrities The third part will cover the positive side of social media. Social media, if used properly; can become a powerful tool for performing democracy. It gives everyone a chance to voice their opinions and start direct dialogue with big corporations and government officials. An individual can harness social media to popularize his art, craft or skill without needing to get discovered by anyone. This part in the course will show students how to: 1. Customize and create content that attracts more viewers. Sharing is easy but one has to make a user click on the content and make sure he gets the important information at a glance. This will be possible by customizing and reformatting a single content for different social media. 2. Use social media to showcase their talents and connect with people or businesses to advance their careers. How to create free websites, create and manage Facebook groups, free blogs and pages to share content among potential audience will be shown. 3. Connecting with like-minded people, groups and such to get important messages across peers and spreading awareness about social issues. If one can generate a movement to ban single use plastics across the world; it might prove to be incredibly more effective than any government speech or conference. This will start with understanding various hashtag activism movements that have empowered people through social media in the past.

Sayantan Mukherjee

Sayantan Mukherjee is a teacher and professional video editor based in Kolkata, India. He has edited numerous feature length documentary films, short films and corporate films. He is a part of the organization "Bichitra Pathshala" where he regularly mentors’ students and teachers of schools and institutions on how to integrate technology and cinema into their teaching/learning designs. He is a technical consultant for various institutions and has been around the country for Vigyan Prasar- the Science Communication Department of the Government of India; exposing the uses of moving image and internet in a classroom situation. He is the visiting faculty of video editing in Aliah University and teaches B.Sc. students of Media Science how to craft their own films on the editing table. He works for EMMRC, St. Xavier's College as anchor and editor for numerous MOOC programmes made under the Swayam platform for UGC, India.

Subha Das Mollick

A media teacher and a documentary filmmaker, Subha Das Mollick has made more than 50 documentary films on a variety of subjects, most of which have been aired on the national television. A post graduate in Physics, she switched over to media after more than ten years of teaching Physics at the undergraduate level. She has been the head of the Film Studies and Mass Communication Dept. at the St. Xavier's College, Kolkata and nurtured the twin departments at their stages of infancy. She has also been the head of the Media Science Department at iLEAD Institute. She has been the principal instructor for two online courses on the SWAYAM Platform. Presently she is a visiting faculty at Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, Viswa Bharati University and at Aliah University. As the founder secretary of Bichitra Pathshala, she has been developing the pedagogy for effective use of moving images in teaching learning designs.  Her recent independent productions “Calcutta Sonata” and “Dwelling in Travelling” have been critically acclaimed in the festival circuit and bagged some prestigious awards.

Andrea Niosi

Andrea Niosi is a Marketing Instructor in the School of Business at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia, Canada.

Using Social Media Responsibly

By Vicki Kirkman, LCSW, LCAC – Feb. 25, 2020

Everywhere you look you see people with their heads down staring at a bright screen, often consumed with the endless communication, information and entertainment that an electronic device provides.  Cell phones, tablets, smart watches and computers are everywhere! 

Kids and teenagers growing up in this digital age are learning how to use technology at a huge rate of speed.  When used appropriately, there are so many positive benefits that come with technology and using social media.  There are also many risks and potential harmful consequences to social media use.

The Oxford Reference defines social media as “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.”  There are many social media platforms that teenagers use, but some of the most popular among that age group include Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Tik Tok and Twitter. Facebook, Skype, Pinterest, Vine and Linked In are other popular social media sites that people of various age groups use.

One of the best benefits of social media is it allows people to easily stay connected through messaging, video chats or photographs.  It can provide opportunities to meet people from all areas of the world without even leaving the comfort of your own home.  Social media also provides so many platforms to express feelings, thoughts and opinions. It’s a great way to explore and learn more about various interests and stay informed about current events. Social media and technology can help someone develop or discover a community or support network too.

Along with the benefits of social media, risks and negative consequences can arise.  Too much social media use can result in lower interaction with family, friends, or co-workers.  Exposure to inappropriate content like violence and pornography is highly possible without the use of monitoring and parental control applications.  Inappropriate behavior such as bullying, slander, or sending/posting risky pictures can happen because a social media user has a false sense of security behind the screen.  Often people don’t consider that their digital footprint can last forever. 

Lack of sleep or interrupted sleep is another negative side effect of too much social media use.  Some people report feeling anxious or depressed after using social media. Pictures and stories often depict someone’s “best of the best” or “highlight reel.”  The pressure to keep posts engaging, picture-perfect and time-worthy can add to feelings of anxiety.  It is easy to start comparing your life to someone else’s digital life and feel down or not good enough. 

Young people have the ability to be in contact with friends all the time, thus leaving them with a sense of no privacy and “too connected” with peers.  Despite the constant ability to stay in contact, they can also feel lonely at the same time. Due to apps that share your location or show if a message has been read, it can be apparent if someone is ignoring or not including you.

Listed below are some good reminders about using social media and technology responsibly to make the most of the positive benefits it can offer.

• Develop and tend to your real life relationships and experiences.
• Take an honest self-assessment of your use. How much are you using social media and why?
• Be yourself and be nice!
• Set limits and take breaks. For example, no posting during homework time, shut phone off or keep in another room during sleeping hours, make “technology free” rules with peers and family members.
• Don’t share your passwords with friends.
• Learn about privacy settings and review them often.
• Utilize social reporting policies and sites.
• Always think before you post.
• If you’re a parent, monitor and set limits for your children and teen’s social media use, have honest conversations about the benefits and risks, and model appropriate social media and technology use yourself.

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People’s Responsibility in the Social Media World and Its Effects on the Reputation Research Paper

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Risks associated with using social media

Practices of good use of social media.

Social media has developed to become one of the largest and popular platforms in the cyber world. However, this rapid growth has brought many challenges on the use of the social media platforms. This is because social media portrays users and their characters over the internet.

This allows for sharing of many aspects of their lives appropriate, offensive, tormenting and useful. Through social media, there is sharing of messages, photos, videos and documents easily. Technology is indispensable with easy access to internet enabled mobile phones, digital cameras, smart phones and web enabled video cameras used in everyday life. With the sharing of such personal information on the internet, various vulnerabilities to reputation are inevitable.

Technology has greatly advanced with the possibility of people creating and modifying tasteless images and videos online using easily available software. Employers can also obtain personal information by doing profile search on employee profiles for recruitment purposes. This can be damaging to employee-employer relations and life at large. Content posted online is permanent since it is available for reference.

Social media offers a dangerous platform where people can create false profiles and enter chat rooms with unreal names. It is important to think before making commitments to the online associations and relationships or posting images, videos and content. Some aspects of private life need to be kept confidential, not for the whole world to know through social media platforms. The available social media platforms include Face-book, twitter, MySpace, meet-up, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Instagram and Flickr.

We are responsible on social media for whatever content we decide to share irrespective of the perspective. Hiding or using a wrong identity does not help since the computer or web enabled device has a unique ID that identifies it online. Authorities can be able to trace the source and origins of the material posted online and hold them accountable. Social media are vital in peoples lives as they use it for business, hating on others, bullying, offend others, network and share information.

The way people interact, communicate, do business and learn has undergone a revolution by social media. This presents risks in security, privacy, legal, intellectual property, and employment practices (Merril & Latham, 2011). The risks can be classified as reputational, operational and legal.

Reputation: The risks associated with the reputation on social media equal or surpass the benefits because social media spans millions of users globally thus offering an uncharted risk. Spreading of wrong and damaging information on social media can lead to expensive damage control procedures which may not be successful.

An example is the case of Sarah Jones, the former Bengals cheerleader. The dirty dot com website posted false information about Jones alleging that she had sex with each Bengals player. It further alleged that she had sexually transmitted infections. The author of the website acted in malice and irresponsible disregard.

Another example is a prank video of a tainted sandwich posted by employees of a pizza delivery on YouTube. The video drew a lot of interest online and the reputation of the pizza delivery store dented to negative. The CEO had to address the issue on YouTube, but the damage was inevitable since searches for the pizza online returned the funny video. Posting such false, embarrassing and defamatory information damages the reputation of the individual or institution involved.

Employment risks: Companies and recruitment firms use social media to collect information about employees and potential recruits (Stenzel& Nesdahl, 2011). Online information guides decisions about hiring by managers. Offences committed on social media by people inform decisions about them. Companies allowing employees to use social media tend to monitor their online activities.

Security risks: There are potential security risks posed by social media platforms and their activities. Malware, spyware and viruses, can be downloaded to the computer or web enabled device from social sites. Phishing and click-jacking can also occur on social websites. Furthermore, sharing of personal and credit card information can lead to fraud in terms of identity theft.

The security of minors using social websites is also at stake because pedophiles use such platforms to lure unsuspecting users using fake profiles. There is the acquisition of personal information like usernames, passwords and bank information through spoofed websites.

Intellectual property risk: Information and media exchanged on social media may have intellectual property predicament. This is because such information may belong to others or a company hence subject to copyright and other contractual obligations. Access and sharing of such information is illegal and restricted.

Privacy risk: With the ability to interact with virtually the whole world online, privacy is a big challenge (Stenzel& Nesdahl, 2011). This is because shared content, images, materials and videos can be accessed almost by everyone. Most people ignore privacy while using social media. A survey on teens using social media indicated that most of them were not even aware of the privacy options setting.

Graph search available on most social media platforms allows users, and advertisers to search personal information shared online. There are three main security categories on internet privacy. The first one is public where shared information is accessible to anyone and searchable via search engines.

Followers and friends only allow access of personal information by approved friends and followers. Locked shuts down all privacy settings and express authorization have to be sought case by case by each user. It is imperative to observe the terms of service and familiarize with privacy settings of the social platform.

Building a good reputation is through good deeds and can vanish with only one negative action. The speed at which content can spread on social media further complicates this. With the possibility to capture screenshots, copy paste and other editing provisions, an errant private post easily becomes public. Knowing how to protect the privacy on social media is vital and can be achieved by practicing the following good practices.

Avoid posting any content that may be inappropriate for your mother to view. Parents are more conservative on their family values and ethics (Merrill, 2013). The parental love decreases with mistakes like an errant and offending post that may have unending effects.

Restrain from posting content that may be unsuitable for your employer or prospective employer to view. Envision a situation where there is the presentation of your online portfolio in an interview. Since employers and future employers’ access social media, it is fundamental to evaluate every online posting.

Clearly identify your weak and danger zones. If there is a temperamental problem, it is good to make decisions early and decide on handling each situation. Avoid posting content while high on emotions like anger, ecstatic, boredom, sad or happy since such states have chemical inhibitors blocking rational thinking.

Confirm every message and content before sending and avoid reading negative content as it may trigger posting of negative content. Avoid creating profiles on websites that host negative material as any content on these sites is searchable.

Practice staying off social media during periods when tired, bored or time for performing other tasks. Avoid living at the mercy of social media and the web enabled devices. Ensure to log out of social media accounts before leaving the computer or cyber.

Theories on responsible use of social media

There is research on responsible use of social media. These theories tend to assess the effects of social media on groups, individual and companies (Joosten, 2012). Social media had revolutionized the way of doing business and marketing by providing networking and advertising avenues. The social responsibility theory provides for free press with no censorship while at the same time subject the content to media obligation. The theory lies between libertarian and authoritarian tendencies as it grants media freedom on one side and external regulations and controls on the other (Siebert, Schramm & Peterson, 1984).

Always be safe and cautious while using social media to avoid posting something that can your reputation, privacy and name Encountering a wrong group or influence online may affect ones reputation. The internet and social media can either build your reputation or break it (Joosten, 2012).

Being responsible in postings upholds credibility thus evaluate and assess the content, videos, photos and text before posting. Edited videos and Photo-shopped items can damage credibility especially for the person in the images or video. Responsible social media training is necessary since most crises result from inappropriate responses, bad content, slow response, irresponsible procedures and lack of verification.

Joosten, T. (2012). Social media for educators: Strategies and best practices . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Merril T. & Latham K, (2011), The Business Benefits May Be Enormous, But Can the Risks –Reputational, Legal, Operational –Be Mitigated? Web.

Merrill, S. (2013). The passionate mom: Dare to parent in today’s world . Nashville, Tenn: Thomas Nelson.

Siebert, F. S., Schramm, W., & Peterson, T. (1984). Four theories of the press: The authoritarian, libertarian, social responsibility, and Soviet communist concepts of what the press should be and do . Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Stenzel, P., & Nesdahl, M. (2011). Who’s in your social network?: Understanding the risks associated with modern media and social networking and how it can impact your character and relationships . Ventura, Calif: Regal.

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IvyPanda. (2019, June 15). People’s Responsibility in the Social Media World and Its Effects on the Reputation. https://ivypanda.com/essays/peoples-responsibility-in-the-social-media-world-and-its-effects-on-the-reputation/

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Essay on Role of Social Media

Students are often asked to write an essay on Role of Social Media in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Role of Social Media

Introduction.

Social media is a powerful tool in our modern world. It connects people globally, allowing us to share ideas, news, and personal updates.

Connecting People

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter connect us with friends and family. They help us stay informed about their lives.

Information and Awareness

Social media is a great source of news and updates. It helps raise awareness about social issues and events happening around the world.

Education and Learning

Social media can be educational. Many educators and experts share knowledge and resources, aiding in learning.

250 Words Essay on Role of Social Media

The advent of social media.

Social media, a revolutionary tool of the 21st century, has transformed the way we communicate, share information, and perceive the world. It has woven itself into the fabric of our daily lives, becoming an indispensable part of our society.

Communication and Information Dissemination

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have made global communication seamless. They allow for instantaneous sharing of ideas, news, and personal experiences. This has democratized information, making it accessible to all, but also poses challenges regarding the spread of misinformation.

Social Activism and Awareness

Social media has become a powerful tool for social activism. Movements like #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo have utilized these platforms to raise awareness, mobilize people, and effect change. However, the risk of ‘slacktivism’ – passive activism without real-world action – is a concern.

Marketing and Business Strategies

Businesses have leveraged social media for marketing, customer engagement, and brand visibility. They can interact directly with consumers, gather feedback, and tailor their strategies accordingly. The rise of influencer marketing is a testament to this new era of digital commerce.

The Double-Edged Sword

While social media has numerous benefits, it also has its drawbacks. Issues such as privacy breaches, cyberbullying, and the detrimental effects on mental health cannot be overlooked.

500 Words Essay on Role of Social Media

In the contemporary world, social media has become an integral part of our lives. It has transformed the way we communicate, interact, and perceive the world around us. This essay explores the role of social media, focusing on its impact on personal relationships, public discourse, and business.

Personal Relationships

Social media has drastically altered how we maintain and form relationships. It has enabled us to stay connected with loved ones, irrespective of geographical boundaries. We can share our experiences, milestones, and everyday moments, fostering a sense of closeness. However, this digital connection also has its pitfalls. It can lead to an over-reliance on virtual interactions, potentially undermining the value of face-to-face communication. Moreover, the constant comparison with others’ curated lives can lead to feelings of inadequacy and anxiety.

Public Discourse

Business and marketing.

In the business world, social media has revolutionized marketing strategies. Businesses can now directly engage with their customers, understand their needs, and tailor their services accordingly. It also provides a cost-effective platform for advertising and brand promotion. However, the use of personal data for targeted advertising raises ethical concerns about privacy and consent.

Social media has also played a pivotal role in education, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has facilitated remote learning, enabling students and teachers to stay connected. It also provides a platform for collaborative learning and knowledge sharing. However, the digital divide and the risk of cyberbullying are significant challenges that need to be addressed.

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Potential risks of content, features, and functions: The science of how social media affects youth

Almost a year after APA issued its health advisory on social media use in adolescence , society continues to wrestle with ways to maximize the benefits of these platforms while protecting youth from the potential harms associated with them. 1

By early 2024, few meaningful changes to social media platforms had been enacted by industry, and no federal policies had been adopted. There remains a need for social media companies to make fundamental changes to their platforms.

Psychological science continues to reveal benefits from social media use , as well as risks and opportunities that certain content, features, and functions present to young social media users. The science discussed below highlights the need to enact new, responsible safety standards to mitigate harm. 2

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Related content

• APA report calls on social media companies to take responsibility to protect youth
• How much is too much social media use?

Elaboration of science on social media content, features, and functions

Platforms built for adults are not inherently suitable for youth. i Youth require special protection due to areas of competence or vulnerability as they progress through the childhood, teenage, and late adolescent years. ii This is especially true for youth experiencing psychological, physical, intellectual, mental health, or other developmental challenges; chronological age is not directly associated with social media readiness . iii

Hypersensitivity to social feedback

Brain development starting at ages 10–13 (i.e., the outset of puberty) until approximately the mid-twenties is linked with hypersensitivity to social feedback/stimuli. iv In other words, youth become especially invested in behaviors that will help them get personalized feedback, praise, or attention from peers.

• AI-recommended content has the potential to be especially influential and hard to resist within this age range. v It is critical that AI-recommended content be designed to prioritize youth safety and welfare over engagement. This suggests potentially restricting the use of personalized recommendations using youth data, design features that may prioritize content evoking extreme emotions, or content that may depict illegal or harmful behavior.
• Likes and follower counts activate neural regions that trigger repetitive behavior, and thus may exert greater influence on youths’ attitudes and behavior than among adults. vi Youth are especially sensitive to both positive social feedback and rejection from others. Using these metrics to maintain platform engagement capitalizes on youths’ vulnerabilities and likely leads to problematic use.
• The use of youth data for tailored ad content similarly is influential for youth who are biologically predisposed toward peer influence at this stage and sensitive to personalized content. vii

Need for relationship skill building

Adolescence is a critical period for the development of more complex relationship skills, characterized by the ability to form emotionally intimate relationships. viii The adolescent years should provide opportunities to practice these skills through one-on-one or small group interactions.

• The focus on metrics of followers, likes, and views focuses adolescents’ attention on unilateral, depersonalized interactions and may discourage them from building healthier and psychologically beneficial relationship skills. ix

Susceptibility to harmful content

Adolescence is a period of heightened susceptibility to peer influence, impressionability, and sensitivity to social rejection. x Harmful content, including cyberhate, the depiction of illegal behavior, and encouragement to engage in self-harm (e.g., cutting or eating-disordered behavior) is associated with increased mental health difficulties among both the targets and witnesses of such content. xi

• The absence of clear and transparent processes for addressing reports of harmful content makes it harder for youth to feel protected or able to get help in the face of harmful content.

Underdeveloped impulse control

Youths’ developing cortical system (particularly in the brain’s inhibitory control network) makes them less capable of resisting impulses or stopping themselves from behavior that may lead to temporary benefit despite negative longer-term consequences. xii This can lead to adolescents making decisions based on short-term gain, lower appreciation of long-term risks, and interference with focus on tasks that require concentration.

• Infinite scroll is particularly risky for youth since their ability to monitor and stop engagement on social media is more limited than among adults. xiii This contributes to youths’ difficulty disengaging from social media and may contribute to high rates of youth reporting symptoms of clinical dependency on social media. xiv
• The lack of time limits on social media use similarly is challenging for youth, particularly during the school day or at times when they should be doing homework. xv
• Push notifications capitalize on youths’ sensitivity to distraction. Task-shifting is a higher order cognitive ability not fully developed until early adulthood and may interfere with youths’ focus during class time and when they should be doing homework. xvi
• The use and retention of youths’ data without appropriate parental consent, and/or child assent in developmentally appropriate language, capitalizes on youths’ relatively poor appreciation for long-term consequences of their actions, permanence of online content, or their ability to weigh the risks of their engagement on social media. xvii

Reliance on sleep for healthy brain development

Other than the first year of life, puberty is the most important period of brain growth and reorganization in our lifetimes. xviii Sleep is essential for healthy brain development and mental health in adolescence. xix Sleep delay or disruptions have significant negative effects on youths’ attention, behavior, mood, safety, and academic performance.

• A lack of limits on the time of day when youth can use social media has been cited as the predominant reason why adolescents are getting less than the recommended amount of sleep, with significant implications for brain and mental health. xx

Vulnerability to malicious actors

Youth are easily deceived by predators and other malicious actors who may attempt to interact with them on social media channels. xxi

• Connection and direct messaging with adult strangers places youth at risk of identity theft and potentially dangerous interactions, including sexploitation.

Need for parental/caregiver partnership

Research indicates that youth benefit from parental support to guide them toward safe decisions and to help them understand and appropriately respond to complex social interactions. xxii Granting parents oversight of youths’ accounts should be offered in balance with adolescents’ needs for autonomy, privacy, and independence. However, it should be easier for parents to partner with youth online in a manner that fits their family’s needs.

• The absence of transparent and easy-to-use parental/caregiver tools increases parents’ or guardians’ difficulty in supporting youths’ experience on social media. xxiii

Health advisory on social media use in adolescence

Related topics

• Social media and the internet
• Mental health

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A path forward based on science

Change is needed soon. Solutions should reflect a greater understanding of the science in at least three ways.

First, youth vary considerably in how they use social media. Some uses may promote healthy development and others may create harm. As noted in the APA health advisory , using social media is not inherently beneficial or harmful to young people. The effects of social media depend not only on what teens can do and see online, but teens’ pre-existing strengths or vulnerabilities, and the contexts in which they grow up.

Second, science has highlighted biological and psychological abilities/vulnerabilities that interact with the content, functions, and features built into social media platforms, and it is these aspects of youths’ social media experience that must be addressed to attenuate risks. xxiv Social media use, functionality, and permissions/consenting should be tailored to youths’ developmental capabilities. Design features created for adults may not be appropriate for children.

Third, youth are adept at working around age restrictions. Substantial data reveal a remarkable number of children aged 12 years and younger routinely using social media, indicating that current policies and practices to restrict use to older youth are not working. xxv

Policies will not protect youth unless technology companies are required to reduce the risks embedded within the platforms themselves.

As policymakers at every level assess their approach to this complex issue, it is important to note the limitations of frequently proposed policies, which are often misreported and fall far short of comprehensive safety solutions that will achieve meaningful change.

Restricting downloads

Restricting application downloads at the device level does not fully restrict youths’ access and will not meaningfully improve the safety of social media platforms. Allowing platforms to delegate responsibility to app stores does not address the vulnerabilities and harms built into the platforms.

Requiring age restrictions

Focusing only on age restrictions does not improve the platforms or address the biological and psychological vulnerabilities that persist past age 18. While age restriction proposals could offer some benefits if effectively and equitably implemented, they do not represent comprehensive improvements to social media platforms, for at least four reasons:

• Creating a bright line age limit ignores individual differences in adolescents’ maturity and competency
• These proposals fail to mitigate the harms for those above the age limit and can lead to a perception that social media is safe for adolescents above the threshold age, though neurological changes continue until age 25
• Completely limiting access to social media may disadvantage those who are experiencing psychological benefits from social media platforms, such as community support and access to science-based resources, which particularly impact those in marginalized populations
• The process of age-verification requires more thoughtful consideration to ensure that the storage of official identification documents does not systematically exclude subsets of youth, create risks for leaks, or circumvent the ability of young people to maintain anonymity on social platforms.

Use of parental controls

Granting parents and caregivers greater access to their children’s social media accounts will not address risks embedded within platforms themselves. More robust and easy-to-use parental controls would help some younger age groups, but as a sole strategy, this approach ignores the complexities of adolescent development, the importance of childhood autonomy and privacy, and disparities in time or resources available for monitoring across communities. xxvi

[Related: Keeping teens safe on social media: What parents should know to protect their kids ]

Some parents might be technologically ill-equipped, lack the time or documentation to complete requirements, or simply be unavailable to complete these requirements. Disenfranchising some young people from these platforms creates inequities. xxvii

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1 These recommendations enact policies and resolutions approved by the APA Council of Representatives including the APA Resolution on Child and Adolescent Mental and Behavioral Health and the APA Resolution on Dismantling Systemic Racism in contexts including social media. These are not professional practice guidelines but are intended to provide information based on psychological science.

2 This report seeks to elaborate on extant psychological science findings, which may be particularly relevant in the creation of policy solutions that protect young people, and to inform the development of social media safety standards.

Recommendations from APA’s health advisory on social media use in adolescence

• Youth using social media should be encouraged to use functions that create opportunities for social support, online companionship, and emotional intimacy that can promote healthy socialization.
• Social media use, functionality, and permissions/consenting should be tailored to youths’ developmental capabilities; designs created for adults may not be appropriate for children.
• In early adolescence (i.e., typically 10–14 years), adult monitoring (i.e., ongoing review, discussion, and coaching around social media content) is advised for most youths’ social media use; autonomy may increase gradually as kids age and if they gain digital literacy skills. However, monitoring should be balanced with youths’ appropriate needs for privacy.
• To reduce the risks of psychological harm, adolescents’ exposure to content on social media that depicts illegal or psychologically maladaptive behavior, including content that instructs or encourages youth to engage in health-risk behaviors, such as self-harm (e.g., cutting, suicide), harm to others, or those that encourage eating-disordered behavior (e.g., restrictive eating, purging, excessive exercise) should be minimized, reported, and removed; moreover, technology should not drive users to this content.
• To minimize psychological harm, adolescents’ exposure to “cyberhate” including online discrimination, prejudice, hate, or cyberbullying especially directed toward a marginalized group (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, sexual, religious, ability status), or toward an individual because of their identity or allyship with a marginalized group should be minimized.
• Adolescents should be routinely screened for signs of “problematic social media use” that can impair their ability to engage in daily roles and routines, and may present risk for more serious psychological harms over time.
• The use of social media should be limited so as to not interfere with adolescents’ sleep and physical activity.
• Adolescents should limit use of social media for social comparison, particularly around beauty- or appearance-related content.
• Adolescents’ social media use should be preceded by training in social media literacy to ensure that users have developed psychologically-informed competencies and skills that will maximize the chances for balanced, safe, and meaningful social media use.
• Substantial resources should be provided for continued scientific examination of the positive and negative effects of social media on adolescent development.

Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge the outstanding contributions to this report made by the following individuals:

Expert advisory panel

Mary Ann McCabe, PhD, ABPP, member-at-large, Board of Directors, American Psychological Association; associate clinical professor of pediatrics, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Mitchell J. Prinstein, PhD, ABPP, chief science officer, American Psychological Association; John Van Seters Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Mary K. Alvord, PhD, founder, Alvord, Baker & Associates; board president, Resilience Across Borders; adjunct associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Dawn T. Bounds, PhD, PMHNP-BC, FAAN, assistant professor, Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, University of California, Irvine

Linda Charmaraman, PhD, senior research scientist, Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College

Sophia Choukas-Bradley, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh

Dorothy L. Espelage, PhD, William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Joshua A. Goodman, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Psychology, Southern Oregon University

Jessica L. Hamilton, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University

Brendesha M. Tynes, PhD, Dean’s Professor of Educational Equity, University of Southern California

L. Monique Ward, PhD, professor, Department of Psychology (Developmental), University of Michigan

Lucía Magis-Weinberg, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Psychology, University of Washington

We also wish to acknowledge the contributions to this report made by Katherine B. McGuire, chief advocacy officer, and Corbin Evans, JD, senior director of congressional and federal relations, American Psychological Association.

Selected references

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iii Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2013). The differential susceptibility to media effects model. Journal of Communication , 63 (2), 221–243. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12024

iv Fareri, D. S., Martin, L. N., & Delgado, M. R. (2008). Reward-related processing in the human brain: Developmental considerations. Development and Psychopathology , 20 (4), 1191–1211; Somerville, L. H., & Casey, B. J. (2010). Developmental neurobiology of cognitive control and motivational systems. Current Opinion in Neurobiology , 20 (2), 236–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2010.01.006

v Shin, D. (2020). How do users interact with algorithm recommender systems? The interaction of users, algorithms, and performance. Computers in Human Behavior , 109 , 106344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106344

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viii Armstrong-Carter, E., & Telzer, E. H. (2021). Advancing measurement and research on youths’ prosocial behavior in the digital age. Child Development Perspectives , 15 (1), 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12396 ; Newcomb, A. F., & Bagwell, C. L. (1995). Children’s friendship relations: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin , 117 (2), 306.

ix Nesi, J., & Prinstein, M. J. (2019). In search of likes: Longitudinal associations between adolescents’ digital status seeking and health-risk behaviors. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology , 48 (5), 740–748. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2018.1437733 ; Rotondi, V., Stanca, L., & Tomasuolo, M. (2017). Connecting alone: Smartphone use, quality of social interactions and well-being. Journal of Economic Psychology , 63 , 17–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2017.09.001

x Sherman, L. E., Payton, A. A., Hernandez, L. M., Greenfield, P. M., & Dapretto, M. (2016). The power of the Like in adolescence: Effects of peer influence on neural and behavioral responses to social media. Psychological Science , 27 (7), 1027–1035. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616645673

xi Susi, K., Glover-Ford, F., Stewart, A., Knowles Bevis, R., & Hawton, K. (2023). Research review: Viewing self-harm images on the internet and social media platforms: Systematic review of the impact and associated psychological mechanisms. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry , 64 (8), 1115–1139.

xii Hartley, C. A., & Somerville, L. H. (2015). The neuroscience of adolescent decision-making. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences , 5 , 108–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2015.09.004

xiii Atherton, O. E., Lawson, K. M., & Robins, R. W. (2020). The development of effortful control from late childhood to young adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 119 (2), 417–456. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000283

xiv Boer, M., Stevens, G. W., Finkenauer, C., & Van den Eijnden, R. J. (2022). The course of problematic social media use in young adolescents: A latent class growth analysis. Child Development , 93 (2), e168–e187.

xv Hall, A. C. G., Lineweaver, T. T., Hogan, E. E., & O’Brien, S. W. (2020). On or off task: The negative influence of laptops on neighboring students’ learning depends on how they are used. Computers & Education , 153 , 103901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103901 ; Sana, F., Weston, T., & Cepeda, N. J. (2013). Laptop multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers. Computers & Education , 62 , 24–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.10.003

xvi von Bastian, C. C., & Druey, M. D. (2017). Shifting between mental sets: An individual differences approach to commonalities and differences of task switching components. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , 146 (9), 1266–1285. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000333

xvii Andrews, J. C., Walker, K. L., & Kees, J. (2020). Children and online privacy protection: Empowerment from cognitive defense strategies. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing , 39 (2), 205–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915619883638 ; Romer D. (2010). Adolescent risk taking, impulsivity, and brain development: Implications for prevention. Developmental Psychobiology , 52 (3), 263–276. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.20442

xviii Orben, A., Przybylski, A. K., Blakemore, S.-J., Kievit, R. A. (2022). Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media. Nature Communications , 13 (1649). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29296-3

xix Paruthi, S., Brooks, L. J., D’Ambrosio, C., Hall, W. A., Kotagal, S., Lloyd, R. M., Malow, B. A., Maski, K., Nichols, C., Quan, S. F., Rosen, C. L., Troester, M. M., & Wise, M. S. (2016). Recommended amount of sleep for pediatric populations: A consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine , 12 (6), 785–786. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.5866

xx Perrault, A. A., Bayer, L., Peuvrier, M., Afyouni, A., Ghisletta, P., Brockmann, C., Spiridon, M., Hulo Vesely, S., Haller, D. M., Pichon, S., Perrig, S., Schwartz, S., & Sterpenich, V. (2019). Reducing the use of screen electronic devices in the evening is associated with improved sleep and daytime vigilance in adolescents. Sleep , 42 (9), zsz125. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsz125 ; Telzer, E. H., Goldenberg, D., Fuligni, A. J., Lieberman, M. D., & Gálvan, A. (2015). Sleep variability in adolescence is associated with altered brain development. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience , 14, 16–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2015.05.007

xxi Livingstone, S., & Smith, P. K. (2014). Annual research review: Harms experienced by child users of online and mobile technologies: The nature, prevalence and management of sexual and aggressive risks in the digital age. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry , 55 (6), 635–654. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12197 ; Wolak, J., Finkelhor, D., Mitchell, K. J., & Ybarra, M. L. (2008). Online “predators” and their victims: Myths, realities, and implications for prevention and treatment. American Psychologist , 63 (2), 111–128. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.2.111

xxii Wachs, S., Costello, M., Wright, M. F., Flora, K., Daskalou, V., Maziridou, E., Kwon, Y., Na, E.-Y., Sittichai, R., Biswal, R., Singh, R., Almendros, C., Gámez-Guadix, M., Görzig, A., & Hong, J. S. (2021). “DNT LET ’EM H8 U!”: Applying the routine activity framework to understand cyberhate victimization among adolescents across eight countries. Computers & Education , 160 , Article 104026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.104026 ; Padilla-Walker, L. M., Stockdale, L. A., & McLean, R. D. (2020). Associations between parental media monitoring, media use, and internalizing symptoms during adolescence. Psychology of Popular Media , 9 (4), 481. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000256

xxiii Dietvorst, E., Hiemstra, M., Hillegers, M. H. J., & Keijsers, L. (2018). Adolescent perceptions of parental privacy invasion and adolescent secrecy: An illustration of Simpson’s paradox. Child Development , 89 (6), 2081–2090. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13002 ; Auxier, B. (2020, July 28). Parenting Children in the Age of Screens. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech; Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/07/28/parenting-children-in-the-age-of-screens/

xxiv National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2024). Social media and adolescent health . The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27396

xxv Charmaraman, L., Lynch, A. D., Richer, A. M., & Zhai, E. (2022). Examining early adolescent positive and negative social technology behaviors and well-being during the Covid -19 pandemic. Technology, Mind, and Behavior , 3 (1), Feb 17 2022. https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000062

xxvi Dietvorst, E., Hiemstra, M., Hillegers, M.H.J., & Keijsers, L. (2018). Adolescent perceptions of parental privacy invasion and adolescent secrecy: An illustration of Simpson’s paradox. Child Development , 89 (6), 2081–2090. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13002

xxvii Charmaraman, L., Lynch, A. D., Richer, A. M., & Zhai, E. (2022). Examining early adolescent positive and negative social technology behaviors and well-being during the Covid -19 pandemic. Technology, Mind, and Behavior , 3 (1), Feb 17 2022. https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000062