Use of Social Media by Children and Adolescents

Social media websites are among the most commonly used by today’s children and adolescents. The use of websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and blogs providing entertainment and communication has continually grown exponentially in recent years. Social media is not only changing how we communicate, but our interaction in everyday life (Georgia College, 2015).

Georgia College also found a significant relationship existed between children and adolescents and the use of social media. The average age of a child using social media is 8, although, the minimum age requirement on Facebook is 13. There are more than 5 million users on Facebook under the age of 10. Children and adolescents between the ages of 8 and eighteen spend ten hours and forty-five minutes per day online, while twenty-five percent of the population log into social media sites ten or more times a day. Thus, eighty-eight percent of children and adolescents value social media because it helps them connect and stay in touch with peers.

Specific use of social media for Montgomery County’s internet usage is unavailable; however, it is estimated that sixty-five percent of the population of the state of Alabama are internet users and about forty-five percent of the state has Facebook accounts (Statista, 2015).