About Me

     Most people today know about or have a social media account. We are constantly bombarded with new research or information about the effects of social media usage. However, there is a large audience that is often left out of this discussion and that is children under the age of eleven. Chrishay Pearce took a look into this group and their social media usage and posed the question of how exactly social media affects elementary-age children and came to a very definite conclusion. She directly discussed how social media usage among elementary-age children has negative health impacts on their development. The inspiration for Chrishay’s topic came when a friend showed her the social media account of a five-year-old child on Instagram. Chrishay recalls “I then started to wonder if children had a social media account that young, how would that impact their health and would it become the new norm. The more I thought about it, the more it appealed to my interest.” This started the process of thinking that eventually led to Chrishay's narrowed final research question. She focused on the specific effects that social media usage can have on children. Being a topic that can so easily relate to her field, she felt a good passion for the topic and felt that with the right research, she could establish a clear and concise answer to that very question she first asked herself.

     Social media is still relatively new. For Chrishay, this caused her to have to overcome several different obstacles. Instagram itself is only ten years old as of the time of her research. She says that the lack of recent and available scholarly information was her biggest obstacle throughout this process. Not only is there a lack of information about social media in general, but the age group she was researching is especially lacking. She states “Eventually, I found websites and books, with data that were both old and new. Since the topic is fairly new there is not a lot of research on this topic especially with popular apps like Instagram and Snapchat. Most research is on teens and young adults because this is the group that uses social media the most. I received more information on the impacts of social media on teens and young adults than any other age group” she optimistically continues saying “with my research project, I hope to change that.”

     The question that arises next is who is Chrishay trying to reach with this optimistic research into a world that has not been as highlighted. When asked who her target audience was she responded: “my targeted audience started out with just being parents but then I realized everyone should be aware of this topic because it is detrimental to all kids” she further adds “most people have a social media account and know how distracting it is, and how it impacts their overall health and development. If they know how social media impacts them maybe it can get people thinking about how impactful that would be for a child.” Again, you can see how Chrishay’s passion for children continues to drive her research and her need for a solid answer. Chrishay also talked about how this topic would be effective and beneficial for communities on a larger scale. She believes that this research topic can make the UNCG community stronger since it is able to be a part of a newer research topic, delving into something that has yet to be a primary conversation. She said “Information is scarce for this particular group of children” and believes that her research will open more opportunities to address the issues that come along with it.

     Throughout this process, Chrishay was able to reflect and think about how things could’ve been done differently or better to even further strengthen her topic. She reflected on her desire to have been able to interview with children and get their perspective and understanding on the issue, with parental permission of course. She mentioned maybe even visiting a local elementary school to be able to get some more first-hand interaction with the group she was researching about. When asked if she had more time to study this topic, in what ways would she add to her research she responded with “If I had more time, I would have added pictures of elementary-aged children with their social media account and pictures as visual evidence. I would have interviewed parents who are both in favor and not in favor of kids with their own social media account [...] I believe I can go much further with this research project and collect raw data and statistics on this growing issue. I truly believe that this seemingly harmless question can have devastating impacts on children’s overall health and development. I want individuals to understand that this issue is not something to be aware of at the last minute.”

     This topic is so important for a variety of reasons. Chrishay points out how devastating the health impacts can be to our young children. She states “ I’ve concluded that while doing my research, kids will have the same problems as teens and adults who have social media. All of the negative health impacts that individuals have with social media, children will struggle with it worse because they are not old enough to handle that much responsibility. Not to mention the internet is dangerous in terms of potential predators and sex traffickers if we are not careful.” Perhaps Chrishays most powerful statement could very much sum up everything “My purpose here is to not tell parents how to raise their children or individuals to randomly monitor the first elementary-aged child they see on social media. The purpose of this project is to have people understand that this is an issue that has damaging impacts on a child’s overall health and development if we are not careful.”