Anika,* age 18, shares her thoughts on social media in this insightful blog.
There are many issues that are on the internet that children are allowed to see easily and quickly, one of these is the normalisation of self-harm and eating disorders. An app that is a major problem for this includes Tumblr, what once was an app used for fashion and aesthetic photos to use as a wallpaper is now full of rib cages, scales, models, and beauty standards.
It now holds the struggles teenagers go through with the weight of being ‘perfect.’ Many young women scroll endlessly as they look at photos of other women they are being forced to look like by society. The constant pressure of looking perfect. Instead of knowing the number of how many dolls they own, young girls are now knowing how many calories is in a singular biscuit. We are watching childhoods being ripped away because of the internet, because of the unhealthy settings children are in.
A way we can help is encouraging parents to monitor phones, this does not mean breaking rules of privacy and going through every text message, but more seeing posts that have been made or liked.
Many young campaigners in Children First have admitted they have witnessed disgusting posts online from people their age. This content can be misogynistic, racist or any other sort of hate that can be spread. This is due to the content that other children have witnessed. In the past couple of years, I can say I have noticed a massive rise in discriminatory content from older men affecting young boys. This is extremely negative towards young women and girls as they believe this hatred is normal. It can get to a point where it is overwhelming and intimidated to confront if a child does understand this is wrong, causing them to be forced silent.
This is also negative to young boys, many young men are being manipulated into this sort of behaviour, that they are not ‘manly’ if they do not act on the hatred. Young boys are being influenced and manipulated into believing this hateful content. Many young boys have been told if they do not act or treat someone in a certain way then they are less ‘masculine.’
Before social media was as prominent as it was today, there were places for children to go that would entertain them, this could be after school clubs or youth groups. Now in the modern world, they are harder to find. As I said before many young people have felt there is nowhere else to go that doesn’t involve social media, therefore, causing young people to be forced to create their own safe spaces. These safe spaces are held all over the internet, no matter what app there are thousands of spaces for certain interests.
Although it is amazing the fact that young people have people they can talk to that share interests and passions, means it can be easy for predators to slip through the cracks. It is incredible easy to lie on the internet as there is no proof needed.
A final topic I would like to talk about would be the rise of misogynistic behaviour in young boys. This is all over the world, United Kingdom, Australia and many other countries. This is not a cultural problem; it is a social media problem. The website yougov.com has stated 67% of teachers have said misogyny is a large problem in high school. This abuse contains actions such as barking at teachers, derogatory language and filming up skirts.
The rise in these awful actions is due to social media and the extremists that spread the idea that women are villains or of less value than men. In the video on BBC called Misogyny: More boys are seeing anti woman content online, Professor Over states: “I think often they are targeting boys at an extremely vulnerable stage, just when they are about to start dating or want to start dating.”
Social media and the harmful content that is within it are impacting both young boys and girls. Young boys are taught that hating young girls and women is normal or makes them more masculine, whilst this hatred is becoming normal to young girls, they expect disrespect and hate. It is unbelievable watching how young girls praise young boys for doing the bare minimum. Watching people be surprised when they are respected shows a massive problem.
Parents may see the internet as evil and brutal, young people see it as a safe space where they can be educated. My point here is the internet itself is not evil, it is how it is used, it is the content you allow your children to see. To protect children and young people we must create spaces outside social media to show life without it.
*Name of the young person has been changed to protect their identity.