Rhyann Green
rg156417@ohio.edu
Over the past few years, social media has continued to increase its presence in a variety of aspects of our lives. With that increase, social media has also begun to enter our lives earlier and earlier. In 2018, CNBC reported that the average age for a child to open their first social media account was 11.4 years despite the age requirements for many websites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube being set at 13.
A Pew Research Center study estimates that 71% of American parents are somewhat or very concerned about the amount of time their children may be spending in front of screens. The same study found that 80% of parents with children under the age of 11 said their children watch videos on YouTube. Half of this group reports that their children watch videos at least once a day.
Picture source: CyberSafeIreland
With this traffic comes opportunities for revenue. The Guardian reports YouTube made $15.5 billion dollars from advertising revenue in 2019. Earlier this year, the website released its plans to change some of the policies regarding content for children. According to the Washing Post, the website plans to further distinguish children's content and prevent personalized ads from appearing on those videos. However, YouTube will still be relying partly on self-identification from those who upload videos.
All social media websites, including YouTube, need to do better. While implementing policies to regulate advertising on content made for children, these policies often overlook content outside of this designation that could still have a large share of children in the audience. For example, YouTuber Jake Paul has many younger fans but typically does not present his videos as though they are for children. Paul has been criticized by other content creators for his use of advertising tactics used to target younger fans.
Social media platforms need to hold not only advertisers accountable but also content creators. Companies are shown to target children at a young age to develop brand preferences early, according to Common Sense Media. The article also highlights how teens are influenced by their peers on social media. When teenagers post pictures with brands or interact with brands, it becomes apart of them. This can put pressure on teens to feel the need to fit in by owning certain brands.
YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter need to encourage and reward transparency. Many of these websites focus their attention and policies on advertisements that are handled directly by each platform and run as an addition on top of content. Few websites have strict or clear guidelines about individual content that contains advertisements. Creators need to be explicit and verbal about when they are participating in branded content, being sponsored, or paid to promote a product and how it may influence their thoughts and opinions. We need transparency. When advertisements fail to achieve this, these websites need to investigate for potential deceptive practices.
Disclosure about sponsored content is vital for children. Without it, many children are unable to decipher what is advertising and what is not. To avoid some of these issues, websites should do their best to limit the total amount of ads that children see. However, disclosure does not only serve this purpose. Disclosure is good for all consumers. It is important to be aware when you are viewing an advertisement to help form opinions about products and make informed judgments and purchases.
I agree with your statement about how teens are easily influenced by their peers on social media and your thoughts that connects to the article.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I feel very thankful that the majority of my childhood was before social media became so prevalent. Children's minds are so malleable, and the internet is not reality, and if you add a child's imaginative and creative mind to the mix, you get a possibly very distorted world view. The internet is engineered to be addicting, and as children are watching videos and seeing posts that others are making, it is contributing to their world view and perception of reality. I cannot imagine being a girl scrolling on Instagram, because all I would see are picture perfect girls who I look absolutely nothing like and it would shatter my self confidence. Even though as an adult I know that these posts are not real, heavily edited/photoshopped, and only showing snapshots of a person's life, as a girl I would not have the same logical thought process. I would think that is what everyone looked like and I was inadequate. That's where the ads come in. They make it look like I could obtain or achieve what these girls have if I buy a product that pops up on my screen. And of course, these sites take into account every click you make and choose exactly which ads to pop up and when, which makes it even worse. The internet is wonderful, connecting people from all over and the limitless information on any subject is a great tool, BUT as a child, their brains are not developed fully and they really cannot handle the overstimulation, so it would be best to limit activity or at least explain to them from a young age how the internet works as far as everything being picture perfect and the way the advertisements work.
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