1 in 3 young children are already using social media apps – without parental supervision

Social media can be a very distressing place, even for a grown adult. With that in mind, a new study finds a third of children between seven and nine years-old are already using social media apps. However, a team at the University of Michigan says many of these young children are browsing social media without parental supervision.

The national poll finds two-thirds of parents are concerned about their children sharing private information through apps. Despite this, one in six parents with children on social media don’t use parental controls, while two in five say it’s “too time consuming” to monitor their kids’ internet use.

While teenagers making TikTok videos, communicating through Snapchat, or growing their own Instagram accounts has become common in the modern digital era, younger children are also becoming more familiar with these social platforms.

Half of 10 to 12-year-olds and a third of those between seven and nine now use digital devices to engage with others on social media, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.