The Unspoken Side of the Digital World

While social media's role in promoting violence or affecting academic performance in children is often discussed, the invisible pressures triggering early puberty remain largely unaddressed.
Even food advertisements on television or streaming platforms, with unrealistic visuals and strange sounds, can send subliminal messages to children’s subconscious minds.

The Unspoken Impact of Social Media: Early Puberty
Today, social media and paid television platforms have profound and often overlooked effects on our children. These platforms are not merely sources of entertainment or information; they play a critical role in children’s mental and emotional development. This influence, particularly regarding early puberty, can have serious consequences.

Visual Guidance and Subliminal Messages
In an airport, even without knowing the language, we navigate through visual signs—arrows, restroom symbols, or food icons—that guide us to our destination or to goals set by others. Similarly, on social media, children may watch an innocent video only to encounter ads promoting friendship sites or high beauty standards.
These ads embed ideals of beauty and consumption into their subconscious, pushing children toward makeup and cosmetic products at an early age. Today’s easily accessible children’s makeup and accessories in supermarkets exemplify this invisible pressure. The affordability of these products makes the situation even more concerning.

Factors Triggering Early Puberty
Social media imposes a "beauty pressure" on children at an early age. Inappropriate cartoon characters and social media influencers imprint adult norms onto young minds. Exposed to ideas of relationships, friendships, and consumer culture too soon, children may stray from natural developmental paths, facing the biological, physical, and emotional challenges of adulthood before their time.

The Uncontrolled Side of the Digital World
While discussions about social media promoting violence or lowering grades are common, the invisible pressures leading to early puberty are seldom mentioned. Food ads on TV or streaming platforms, with unrealistic visuals and odd sounds, send subliminal messages that disrupt natural growth processes. These influences can thrust children into premature adulthood, surprising even their parents.

Media Experience: Past vs. Present
Previous generations grew up with television. Though TV’s negative effects were discussed, controlling its impact was easier. In living rooms, content could be monitored by family members. This allowed children to stay connected to the real world while engaging with media content.
Today, personal devices like smartphones and tablets expose children to an uncontrollable realm. These individual-use devices make monitoring the content children consume nearly impossible, isolating them and trapping them in an uncontrolled virtual universe.

Solutions:
Social media poses a significant safety and mental health risk for children. Since internal oversight mechanisms on these platforms are insufficient, the responsibility falls to parents and the state. Some countries have already begun taking precautionary measures.

As parents, we must manually track the content our children watch. This process should be conducted in a supportive rather than authoritarian manner. Avoid leaving children alone in their rooms for hours; occasionally check on them with subtle excuses. This helps them develop their own self-monitoring mechanisms. Maintaining healthy communication and guiding children effectively is the best protection against the dangers of the digital world.

Our Shared Responsibility
Preventing early puberty and many other issues requires offering healthy role models and providing conscious guidance to protect children from the negative effects of the digital world. Social media is not just a tool for entertainment—it is a powerful platform shaping our children’s future. Using this power responsibly is the duty of families, educators, governments, and society as a whole.

December 4, 2024

Sevim DALGIÇ GÜL / Eğitim Uzmanı

Türkiye