Children who "don't want to look like children", who come to the agenda with the concept of "child on the threshold", forget their own child identities after a while. Because children's beauty, children's dressing, everything that is childish is no longer "childish", but turns into a completely adult perception of beauty and an adult perspective. Experts warn. They point out that serious behavioral problems, impulse control problems, mental problems in which body perception is deeply affected await these children.
NPISTANBUL Hospital Specialist Clinical Psychologist Duygu Barlas said that children who "do not want to look like a child", which has been on the agenda in recent days, face the danger of mental problems.
Children forget their "child identity"
Emphasizing that children who are so adultized forget their child identities after a while, Specialist Clinical Psychologist Duygu Barlas said, "With this situation, serious behavioral problems, impulse control problems, mental problems where body perception is deeply affected can be seen. It is of course the duty of mental health professionals to combat all these problems. However, the method that has recently become widespread in the world is not 'intervention' but 'prevention' studies. It is urgently necessary for experts in the field of child mental health to come together and initiate "prevention" studies in order to prevent social media from negatively affecting children's self-perception."
It is no longer surprising that they are active on social media
Specialist Clinical Psychologist Duygu Barlas pointed out that the age of social media users has decreased considerably with the widespread use of the internet, and even said that children make up the majority of social media users compared to adults. Duygu Barlas said, "It has recently ceased to be surprising that even children who have just started primary school have social media accounts. With the changing world and changing perceptions, these behaviors of children can be considered natural from time to time. However, it would not be wrong to say that this acceptance has some limitations or criteria."
Social media should not disrupt the child's building blocks
Emphasizing that children's use of social media should be limited, Duygu Barlas said, "One of these limitations is the duration of social media use and the preservation of the functionality of areas that can be considered as building blocks in the child's life. A child's building blocks include social relationships, academic performance, family relationships, motor and emotional development. If there is a deterioration in any of these areas with the prolonged use of social media, it can be considered that social media use is not at a healthy level and harms the child. There are a number of factors that affect unhealthy social media use. However, it is necessary to look at this criterion to distinguish whether it is a healthy or unhealthy use in the first place."
Social media use should be limited
Specialist Clinical Psychologist Duygu Barlas noted that another limitation is related to the purpose of social media use and how it is used, noting that child users today strive to become child adults, "Social media has become an environment where people mainly exhibit their beautiful moments, successes, difficulties they experience from time to time, and memories they want to share with their environment. Most children tend to share images from their lives that are far away from their real identities and any kind of reality they have. They show themselves on social media not as they are, but as images that they think will get more likes. They often try to exist with adult sexuality that may not be developmentally appropriate, they strive to become child adults instead of living their childhood."
Increasing insatiability and the expectation of having everything
Emphasizing that in addition to these negative effects, the misapplication of social media use leads to serious insatiability in children, the inability to control the urge to have everything immediately, and the expectation to have things immediately without effort, Duygu Barlas said the following:
"Of course, we adults, especially the media and the advertising campaigns of large companies in areas such as cosmetics and clothing that sexualize children have a great impact on these experiences. Advertising that serious money is earned by being famous on social media and reinforcing such situations can also be considered as serious risk factors. In fact, this has become an evolving phenomenon over time; in fact, all this started to happen a long time ago, but with the spread of the internet and visual media, we can say that the situation has gotten out of hand. 'Children are children, they are eager to dress, to care, to look beautiful' has become a dangerous sentence. Because child beauty, child dressing, everything that is childish is no longer "childish", but carries a completely adult perception of beauty and an adult point of view. This is where the problem stems from."
Precautions should be taken
Emphasizing that children who are so adultized forget their child identities after a while, Duygu Barlas said, "With this situation, serious behavioral problems, impulse control problems, mental problems where body perception is deeply affected can be seen. It is of course the duty of mental health professionals to combat all these problems. However, the method that has recently become widespread in the world is not "intervention" but "prevention" studies. It is urgently necessary for experts in the field of child mental health to come together and initiate "prevention" studies in order to prevent social media from negatively affecting children's self-perception."
