SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND MENTAL HEALTH OF CHILDREN

- We live in digital age, which significantly affects the social and educational process of school going children. Childhood years are the most impressionable years. It’s a very vulnerable population to have something where there is no stopgap. The study was conducted on middle childhood children in the age group of 7 to 9 years of Yamuna Nagar District of Haryana . The sample was randomly selected according to convenience. The sample size was 50 children along with their one parent. A self-prepared questionnaire covering wide range of topics like the time duration spend on social media sites per day, its affect on behaviour, academic achievements, emotional aspects and many other related issues. The respondents were interviewed on the self-prepared questionnaire. Data was quantified using frequencies and percentages. Social media has both positive and negative impact on children. Studies link social media use to poor sleep, memory issues, academic struggles, anxiety and fear of missing something. Social media has significant impact on children’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development, with both negative and positive aspects. Negative effects include sleep problems, attention issues, increased aggression, depression, and exposure to cyber bullying or inappropriate contents. Positive influences can involve educational opportunities, increased social connection for isolated children and exposure to diverse cultures. E- learning enriches children knowledge bank. Parents strongly wants that Government should come up with a stringent law to ban social media sites for children. Social media when used appropriately can help children develop self-control and discipline through restricted screen time. Keywords- Social Media, Mental Health.