Kids on the Social Media can Stay Social Offline Too. Many parents worry about how social media affects their kids. They fear it might harm their real-life friendships. But a new study says kids who use social media a lot also spend time with friends offline. Professor Silje Steinsbekk led the study at NTNU. They followed around 800 kids from ages 10 to 18.
They found that kids who use social media a lot also hang out with friends in person. Kids now spend about 4 hours daily on social media like TikTok and Instagram. The study wanted to know if more time on social media affects kids’ real-life friendships.
The study says social media doesn’t stop kids from making friends offline. It also says kids who use social media a lot spend many evenings with friends in person. But the study also says kids with social anxiety might be affected by using social media too much.
But the link between social media and anxiety is not strong, so more research is needed. The study shows that social media has good sides too. It can make friendships closer and even help make new friends. So, kids who use social media a lot still have real-life friends.
The study hopes this will ease parents’ worries a bit. But Professor Steinsbekk says we need to keep studying how social media affects kids. Technology changes fast, so we need to keep learning about its effects on kids. Understanding how social media affects kids is important for their mental health and how they make friends. As technology changes, we need to keep learning about its effects on our lives.
