Xu 1 Lingyi Xu Prof. Treat DISC 1313 19 November 2019 Should Children Be Allowed to Use Phones and Social Media? What happens when a dry sponge meets water? It will absorb as much water as it can. Sometimes children are like a sponge: they will imitate the behavior of people around them or get information from the Internet and incorporate what they see into their lives. Due to the rapid development of the technological age, information on social media and the Internet is diverse. Moreover, in the past few years, there has been a significant increase in the number of children using mobile phones and social media. The data given by Jacqueline Howard in the article “What's the Age When Kids Start Social Media?” reflect the large number of children who own mobile phones and use social media: “The report found that, overall, 56% of the children had their own social media accounts, based on the parents’ survey responses. Among those children, the parents reported that the average age when initially signing up for the account was 12.6 years” (Howard). As a result, parents begin to worry about their children's use of technology and social media. The topic of whether or not children are allowed to use mobile phones and social media has attracted the attention of many parents and experts and generated different opinions. On the one hand, proponents believe that children should use social media to learn basic social and technical skills, to make friends with people around the world more easily, and to learn from their peers online. On the other hand, opponents believe that it would have a bad effect on children's mental health. Cyber bullying may occur and children may be unable to communicate better in real life. There are a number of pros and cons that come with using mobile phones and social media, and parental guidance can make a difference. People who agree that children can use mobile phones and social media think they can better understand the latest technology and learn basic social skills. The Internet can broaden children's horizons, can help the children know current affairs new, and can help them obtain all sorts of newest knowledge and information. In later life, these children can do research themselves. Through the Internet, children can enrich their minds obtain learn a lot of knowledge that cannot be learned in school by teachers. In addition, they can use social media to communicate with others. Some children lack confidence and dare not talk and communicate with the outside world. Now with the Internet, these kids may overcome this psychological barrier and broaden their horizon in the process of this victual communication. Children can meet other people with the same interests, they can quickly make more friends through the topics they are interested in, and they can learn to build and maintain friendships and relationships. This can benefit for children. According to Ronaldo Tumbokon, “Social networks actually make kids more rela ...