Most children aged 11 and 12 use Tik Tok, Instagram and other social media despite the platforms’ age restrictions, and many show signs of addiction to social media, a team of researchers have found.
The US Supreme Court is likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the US beginning January 19. TikTok has around 170 million users in the country.
Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat require users to be at least 13 years old to have an account.
But the study found that a majority of 11 and 12-years olds across the country have accounts on the platforms, and 6.3 per cent have a social media account they hide from their parents.
“Policymakers need to look at Tik Tok as a systemic social media issue and create effective measures that protect children online,” said Jason Nagata, a paediatrician at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals and the lead author of the study.
The study included data from a national sample of over 10,000 children between the ages of 11 and 15 and appeared in the journal Academic Pediatrics.
In a previous study, Nagata found that problematic social media use among children included elements of addiction, such as the inability to stop despite trying, withdrawal, tolerance, conflict, and relapse.
In the current study, 25 per cent of children with social media accounts reported often thinking about social media apps, and 25 per cent said they use the apps to forget about their problems; 17 per cent tried to use social media less but couldn’t; and 11 per cent said using social media too much had hurt their schoolwork.
“Our study revealed a quarter of children reported elements of addiction while using social media, with some as young as eleven years old. The research shows underage social media use is linked with greater symptoms of depression, eating disorders, ADHD, and disruptive behaviours,” the authors said.
