1. Social media was not designed for children.
A tween’s underdeveloped frontal cortex can’t manage the distraction nor the temptations that come with social media use.
2. You can not teach the maturity that social media requires.
I hear parents say that they want to teach their child to use social media appropriately, but their midbrains are not developed yet. Like trying to make clothes fit that are way too big, children will use social media inappropriately until they are older and it fits them better.
3. Social media is an entertainment technology.
It does not make your child smarter or more prepared for real life or a future job.
4. It is not necessary for healthy social development.
It is entertainment attached to a marketing platform extracting personal information and preferences from your child, not to mention hours of their time and attention.
5. A tween’s “more is better” mentality is a dangerous match for social media.
Social media encourages them to overdo their friend connections like they tend to overdo other things in their lives. Does anyone have thousands of friends?
6. Social media is an addictive form of screen entertainment.
Like video game addiction, early use can set up future addiction patterns and habits.