Muscat: Using social networking sites has become a daily chore for children that steals many hours from their day. A new survey by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) proposes to draw a national framework for dealing with social media through evaluating children’s use of these applications.
The survey sample includes about 2,500 men and women citizens aged 18 years and above from various governorates of the Sultanate of Oman and educational levels, which allows for obtaining estimates for most indicators at the overall level.
The survey seeks to reveal the applications most used by children, measure the extent to which families follow the use of these platforms, evaluate their impact on children’s behavior, determine their areas of use of social media applications, and determine the appropriate age for using these applications among them.
Social media is a big part of many children’s lives. This makes it possible to create online identities, connect with others, and create social networks. Children use social media for entertainment and self-expression as platforms can expose them to current events, allow them to interact across geographic barriers and teach them about a variety of topics.
However, social media use can negatively impact them by distracting them, disrupting sleep, exposing them to bullying, and spreading gossips and unrealistic views about the lives of others. Therefore, risks may be related to the extent of adolescents’ social media use.
The survey will help develop national plans and programmes to regulate children’s use of social media, contribute to raising families’ awareness of the importance of monitoring their children’s use of these platforms, and provide valuable data to decision-makers about children’s online behaviour.
Through the results of a previous survey in 2019 conducted by the NCSI indicated that 94 percent of Omanis have accounts on social media, and the most popular of these is the WhatsApp application, which is used by 93 percent of users of social media platforms, followed by YouTube at 71 percent, followed by Instagram at 50 percent.
The results at that time revealed that the average daily use of social media reached six hours a day and that 36 percent of Omanis trust to one degree or another that social media as a source of news and information about important events, compared to 35 per cent who do not trust it.
The results showed that the Omani citizen has on average three accounts on different social networking sites. Communication with family and friends also came at the top of the reasons for using social media, and followed by learning about the news.
While a research study on the dangers of using social media on children emphasised the importance of developing awareness-raising programmes and educational curricula to protect children from misuse of social media.
Dr Amjad bin Hassan al Haj, Assistant Professor of Social Work in the Department of Sociology and Social Work, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, in his survey revealed the extent of the danger of communication programmes and their negative impact on the child and the reasons that prompted children to use them.
The study also proved that there is a positive, statistically significant correlation between the use of social networking and aggressive behaviour. Social media also isolates children from their real society, wastes time, and negatively affects children’s moral behaviour.
As educators, teachers, and parents, we have reached a stage that requires us to ask this question: How do we protect our children from the negatives of using social networking sites?
To be logical, let us believe that preventing children from using social networking sites has become very difficult, and it can even be said that it is impossible, but we can exploit it to the benefit of our children.
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