Child-Computer Interaction Dynamics: A Systematic Review of Social Media Embedded Interactive Tools and Their Psychological Impacts

Children are drawn to social media platforms that enable social and emotional interactions through features such as posting, messaging, and reactions. This systematic review, which included 41 journal articles published from 2011 to 2024, explored social media embedded interactive tools and psychological impacts on young children, emphasizing outcomes, associated risks and utilization of parental control options. The findings revealed that interactive tools on social media platforms such as posting and sharing, messaging and chat, reactions, games and challenges and content curation and discovery have diverse psychological impacts on children, affecting their social, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional well-being. However, they also introduce risks such as mental health issues, addiction, body image issues, distraction, and impaired social skills. Notably, a gap was observed regarding the impact of newer features such as live streaming, augmented reality and filters, and interactive tools like polls and quizzes. Parental controls (activity monitoring, screen time management, and account management) are crucial for safety, but their effectiveness varies, which is drawing interest from researchers, policymakers, and advocacy groups.