handle with care ...

by Rosanna Mazzitelli

It is often abused in the use of such systems that are considered harmless only because they are used by everyone, and in reality there are dark sides not to be underestimated either by the children, much less by the reference adults who are responsible for their children. . Among the most used social networks we find Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, but the one that is really depopulating among children, even very young and under the age that the regulation provides for the subscription to the app which is 13 years old , is Tik Tok. In fact, it is the new frontier of social media and is putting everyone else in crisis. Born from Musically, Tik Tok is the company most loved by teenagers, but on it linger doubts about its safety.

One of the biggest criticisms leveled to TikTok is that the many minors on the platform expose their image without any protection. We have already seen in a previous article, how much children can run the risk of becoming addicted to the use of the INTERNET. To encourage the onset of this excessive use of the network, there are systems linked to the use of social networks, likes necessary to feel cool and visible, challenges proposed in the various platforms that put children in a position to always keep up with new trends social media to be part of the huge INTERNET group.

Just as acceptance is sought in peer groups, a typical need for adolescents, today acceptance is sought more widely. They are the social networks with their likes and comments that make a guy / a feel like others The more we conform and follow the various trends, the more adolescents feel that they are part of a system that can make them feel wanted and considered and consequently their self-esteem is also gratified by the positive responses that the web sends back. The big risk, however, is the inclemency of the virtual world, the harsh criticisms and offenses that often result from exposure to social media.

In fact, one of the widespread phenomena on social networks is Cyberbullying. Many very young people do not put any brake on what they express by losing the filters and solemnly affirming things that they would not normally dream of saying in person, even going to the extreme. Anonymity allows you to wear a mask through the creation of virtual profiles that are difficult to trace and the victims of such attacks can experience various difficulties, including anxiety, depression, addiction and loneliness. In extreme cases, to suicide.

Thisexposure to the unconditional judgment of the other, therefore, can become very dangerous for a boy who is not yet structured from a personality point of view: for him / her a criticism made by a stranger who feels free to express himself behind the keyboard. offensive comments, it can represent a fact considered real and not questioned because it comes from the web, a source of knowledge and omniscence for the generations born with the cell phone in the cradle. It is clear how much this can affect a teenager’s self-esteem and how risky it can be, also because there is no direct confrontation with those who take the liberty of hurting through a social network. To these risks are added other even more dangerous, namely those of running into pedophiles who use these social networks to know and lure minors.

There are more and more frequent cases of children, even very young ones, who have trusted unknown people who, through a process of rapprochement, lead minors to trust up to, for example, sending pornographic material, if not even a live meeting.

To make young people think about the conscious use of technology, Safer Internet Day, the world day for network security, was established and promoted by the European Commission, which is celebrated on the second Tuesday of February. Safer Internet Day 2020 was celebrated simultaneously in over 150 countries including Italy. A recent investigation conducted by “Telefono Azzurro” together with Doxa, Kids, shows the controversial relationship between teenagers and social networks.

The study predicted that the boys indicated a maximum of three negative aspects of social media: about a third of them indicated that they were distracted from studying; 29% referred to lack of personal contact and relationships with others; in 21% of cases, however, a negative aspect was the illusory dimension networks of contacts that, in fact, would give the impression of having many friends, often simply strangers.

The children also referred to the way in which social networks negatively affect the perception of themselves and others; 28% of the sample analyzed then indicated the problem of addiction to social networks.

Therefore it seems that Italian teenagers know the risks deriving from presence on social networks, but at the same time it seems that they find it very difficult to abandon them.

The adult's task is to monitor their children through the various control systems that the network allows. Not leaving minors at the mercy of the network and its dangers is the necessary prerequisite to avoiding major risks. In addition to this, it is important to empower children by discussing with them what are both the positive aspects of the use of social networks but also the risky ones that a teenager, due to age characteristics, does not really take into consideration, even though he knows them well.