The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families. Engaging in social media is a routine activity that has been shown to benefit young people by enhancing communication and social skills. Social media sites such as Facebook offer multiple opportunities for connecting friends and people with shared interests. In recent years, the number of young people using such sites has increased dramatically, with many logging on more than ten times a day. In addition, a large proportion of teenagers now own mobile phones, so a large part of their social and emotional development is occurring while they are on the internet or on mobiles. Because of their limited capacity for self – regulation and susceptibility to peer pressure, young people are at some risk as they experiment with social media. Research indicates that there are frequent online expressions of offline behaviours, such as bullying and clique – forming, that have introduced problems such as cyberbullying. Other problems that merit awareness include internet addiction. Many parents today use technology incredibly well and feel comfortable with the programs and online venues that their children are using. Nevertheless, for various reasons, some may find it difficult to relate to their digitally smart youngsters. Such parents may lack a basic understanding of these forms of socialization, which are integral to children’s lives. Frequently, they do not have the technical abilities or time needed to keep pace with their children in their ever-changing internet habits. In addition, these parents often lack a basic understanding that children’s online lives are an extension of their offline lives. The result can be a knowledge and skill gap, which creates a disconnect in how these parents and their children relate. Social media sites allow young people to accomplish online many of the tasks that are important to them offline: staying connected with friends and family, making new friends, and exchanging ideas. Older students also use social media to connect with one another on school work. For example, Facebook allows students to gather outside class to exchange ideas about assignments. Some schools successfully use blogs as teaching tools, which has the benefit of reinforcing skills in written expression and creativity. Adolescents are also finding that they can access online information about their health concerns easily and anonymously. Excellent health resources are increasingly available to youth on topics such as stress reduction. However, because of their young age, adolescents can encounter inaccuracies during these searches and may require parental involvement to be sure they are using reliable online resources, interpreting the information correctly, and not becoming overwhelmed by what they are reading. Using social media becomes a risk to adolescents more often than adults realise. Most risks fail into these categories: peer – to – peer; lack of understanding of online privacy issues; and the influences of advertisers. Although “online harassment” is often used interchangeably with the term “cyberbullying”, it is actually different. Research suggests that online harassment is not as common as offline harassment, and participation in social networking sites does not put most children at risk of online harassment. Cyberbullying is deliberately using digital media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about another person. It is the most common online risk for all teens, and can have profound emotional effects. Researchers have proposed a new phenomenon called “Facebook depression”, defined as depression that develops when youngsters spend a great deal of time on social media sites and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression. The intensity of the online world is thought to be a factor that may trigger depression in some adolescents. As with offline depression, young people who suffer from Facebook depression are at risk of social isolation and sometimes turn to risky internet sites for “help”. The main risks to young people online today are each other, risks of improper use of technology, lack of privacy, or posting false information about themselves or others. These types of behaviour endanger their privacy. When people go onto websites, they can leave evidence of their visits. This ongoing record of online activity is called the “digital footprint”. One of the biggest threats to young people on social media sites is to their digital footprint and future reputations.  Young people who lack an awareness of privacy issues often post inappropriate material without understanding that “what goes online stays online”. As a result, future jobs and college acceptance may be put in jeopardy by inexperienced clicks of the mouse.