The Pros and Cons of Facebook in Parent-Child Relations

The world is ever changing. Social Media for example, is making an impact in the lives of everyone since the late 90’s. Some view this as a positive change while others have a very different view of the way it is being utilized. Here we investigate the social media pros and cons and figure out whether it has a positive or negative effect on the way people parent their children.

A brief history into social media

The world is ever changing. Social Media for example, is making an impact in the lives of everyone since the late 90’s. The 20th century had an upgrade in the internet world around 1997, desktop computers were around and booming since 1940s, however the ability to communicate with people from all over the world from the comfort of their homes have just started making an impact. MSN, and AOL, were only a few of the perks to the social media aspect of the late 90s these messenger fields were used to send instant messages to pretty much anyone who had access to these accounts. It was around the early 2000s when social media platforms were introduced, Myspace, and Twitter. One platform was taking the world by storm around 2004, thefacebook as it was originally known, later changed to Facebook, was created by Mark Zuckerberg and a couple of friends while attending college at Harvard.

Technology had a major facelift in the early 2000s, from desktop computers to cell phones that can download apps, people were able to download their favorite games to play and bring virtually everywhere. The first app store was released by Apple in 2008.

Facebook created their first app which was launched in 2013, from there it grew in to an amazing tool that continued to grow and gain followers and attention all over. Facebook paved the way for people to connect with others all over the world, as of 2007 it was known to have 50 million active accounts. Facebook has evolved into a platform that people use to talk to family and friends and to stay connected to the world, which leads into a realm of pros, cons and opinions on the usage of social media. Some view this as a positive change while others have a very different view of the way it is being utilized. According to, (B. Krone, personal communication, Jan. 28th, 2019)

Facebook has a negative effect in the way we parent our children because “It takes away the quality time spent with your children, instead of submerging yourself in the world with your child you tend to spend more time staring at a phone screen, with this comes possible hostility towards your children all from staring at the screen for too long. You tend to forget the world around you.” Others do not share the same opinion, stated from (R. Finch, personal communication. Jan. 23, 2019) “Facebook does not affect my relationship with my child because I don’t allow it, I am a single parent, I don’t get to be absent when it comes to spending time with my child.”

Facebook, has many pros for using the social media site, you can locate family and friends you don’t have regular contact with, you are able to update profile pictures, customize security settings, meet people all over the world and interact in ways were never possible before from the comfort of your home or the touch of a finger. However, no matter the length of pros there is always an equally long list of cons, such as, you can’t monitor the length of time children spend on it.

With how accessible Facebook has come there is no way to determine or set a time limit for how long you can be on the site, this also holds true for parents. When it comes to work or academics, the time spent online takes away time spent with either family or work in general, causing students to fall behind in their studies and parents to pass off work as if it isn’t as important. Another con to using Facebook is the constant criticism, we have come to an age where everyone thinks they know everything. You can post a picture and there is bound to be at least one person that must give some sort of input about the way the person looks or holds themselves causing negative self-images and equally low self-esteem.

The list of pros and cons to social media and Facebook could go on which draws us to our conclusion, I believe that even with differing opinion, articles, and research I don’t believe there is a single study that specifically reflects one’s ability to raise their children. I don’t think there is adequate research enough to prove there are negative implications to social media in comparison with parent-child relationships. I think there are times when social media can be used less, take time away from the screen and have family time and talk about your day.

I don’t believe that you are a terrible parent for wanting to stay connected or even making time for yourself away from reality if you use it appropriately and put time limits on the amount of social media you expose yourself to, I think overall it could be a great way to bond with your children over pictures and videos shared but don’t feel it affects people’s ability to parent unless you let it interfere.

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