Social media – a ‘launch pad’ to effective communication for children

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Washington, May 9: A new study has suggested that paediatricians should ask school kids and adolescents if they are on Facebook or not, to study the impact of social media on a child’s development.

“Social media is an important issue and it is not a fad; it is here to stay,” said Marlene Huff, Kentucky Children’s Hospital child and adolescent behavioural health therapist and associate director of the Division of Adolescent Medicine.

Huff says that social media is especially beneficial to the reserved children.

She highlights the importance of knowing how a child communicates with friends outside of school.

“In regular exams we ask children what their username and password is for their social media accounts, if they tell the truth about their age, if their parents are part of their ‘friends’ network, who their ‘friends’ are and if they are their age, and what they use the social networking sites for.”

“Social media can help children that are slow to warm up gain confidence and learn the basic social rules of engagement. The next step, as a parent, is to take what they’ve learned online into real life and help them practice that with real people as opposed to virtual persons. Social media can be a very helpful launching pad. People think you’re born with the art of chit chat and that’s not true it’s a skill that children can learn through social media, ” added Huff.

The study has been published by the American Academy of Paediatrics. (ANI)