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Social media is a big part of our society. Many people have done research on this matter. In fact, CNN.com stated that according to Common Sense News Media, 56% of U.S. youth have their own social media accounts. The average age for students signing up for a social media account is 12.6 years old even though many of the policies state a person must be at least 13 to use these sites. This statistic goes to show that kids could be in more danger on apps like Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, especially if they are unaware of the possible consequences when talking to others and sharing information on these sites. 

We interviewed students from the middle school and found out that the majority of students are on social media. One seventh grade student, Allison Kendall said, “I feel social media messed up our generation a little bit.” When we asked what age she was when she got social media, she replied, “I got Facebook when I was eight.” We were surprised when she said this because like we already stated, kids our age usually aren’t permitted to use Facebook.

We also interviewed seventh grader Johanna Hackman who told us she recently started to use Tiktok, and that it was her only social media account.

Lastly, we interviewed sixth grader Parker Martin who shared that she was only nine when she got her first Snapchat account.

Why shouldn’t  kids have social media? The majority of people that are on social media are not worried about the things that can happen. The truth is that cyber-bullying is a big thing in our society. Cyber bullies are people that bully other people through digital means.  Besides this, a student’s identity could be stolen and all of his/her private information could get out to the public. There could also be stalking and trolling. All of these things are negative about social media, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We could change that quickly if we all do our part to make sure that everyone uses these apps responsibly—meaning that if we all do good things on social media instead of bad things, the world would be a much better place.

Why should kids have social media? Kids should have social media to feel confident. Not many people would say they feel confident on social media, but it can help kids feel more  comfortable talking to others. The web site socialmediatoday.com reported that ‘’29 percent of teens felt that social media helped them feel less shy.’’ If you think about it, that’s a lot because in our society teens talk through social media and text messages instead of facing a person and verbally speaking to them.  Social media can also help kids feel smart. What we mean by this is that they improve on their cognitive abilities, like problem solving skills, comprehension, and critical thinking on some of these apps.

We asked the original students we interviewed if they think we should have social media or not. Two students we interviewed said yes and one only said no. Our opinion is that we shouldn’t have it.  We think that it causes drama and anxiety. The main reason is because of cyber bullies, and because of that, we believe that kids shouldn’t have social media at this age. Once you get older and understand the ways the things work so you don’t get hurt, then you should be allowed social media. 

We can’t do anything about these issues until we have more people that understand the problems and how social media tools have somewhat overpowered our society, but we can hope that all of the kids that are now using social media platforms act in a safe, kind and responsible way.