Young children have been on the internet since its creation and games like Roblox, Club Penguin, and Animal Jam existed to give kids a safe space online. Recently though, these online spaces have become teenager-centric or have shut down entirely. This has left adolescents with no dedicated online spaces for them and made them move onto mature social media like Instagram, TikTok, and X (formerly known as Twitter). These platforms can expose kids to mature subjects and dangerous ideas, but give them a sense of connection they might be missing in their offline life. Many parents and teenagers hope child-centered online spaces will make a return as young children are forced into adult social media platforms.
Teenagers in Generation Z fondly remember playing online games meant for kids, and are the last generation to do so. Sophomore Zachary Blackburn wishes he could go back to playing Animal Jam.
“It was such a positive place sometimes. It was a nice escape. It was very fun after a stressful day of fourth grade, to come home and play Animal Jam,” said Z. Blackburn.
However, online spaces are great tools for kids to meet new people. Advanced English I teacher Amy Markan believes it’s important for children to make friends, even through unconventional means.
“It does give kids who maybe have social anxiety an avenue to reach out to other friends and other peers in ways that they may not feel comfortable in a social setting at school,” said Markan.
Even though these resources are useful for kids to make friends, they struggle to replace face-to-face interactions. Family and consumer science teacher Marisa Bonner believes online communication doesn’t replace real life experiences.
“For children, I feel like they need to work more on actually developing those social skills and communicating with other children. You should develop actual communication with individuals before you move into just communicating online,” said Bonner.
Games meant for children have limitations that mature social media sites don’t have, and it’s due to these regulations that Sophia Blackburn believes these games are okay for children to play.
“I think child centered games are okay because they have a lot of moderation and stuff, but not unrestricted social media. They can just be exposed to stuff they shouldn’t be really early on otherwise,” said S. Blackburn.
Early exposure to these mature topics can also have lasting effects on a person. Bonner noticed kids who see adult material like drugs and alcohol become desensitized to it.
“It becomes such a normal thing, they’re going to be more likely to do it because they see it as like, Oh, everybody does it because that’s what they’re exposed to all the time,” said Bonner
Early internet access gives children a higher level of maturity, but this can be a double-edged sword. Markan believes that kids today lack the innocence kids from previous generations had.
“I don’t think I had the same mental maturity at y’all’s age, which I don’t know if that’s good or bad, that you guys do at such a young age. You all are so mature, but I think it’s not always in a good way, because you’re being exposed to these adult things on social media,” said Markan
Even age-appropriate content can affect a young person’s life. Bonner believes the superficiality of social media can be detrimental to kids and teenagers.
“It gives them this false idea that the other person that they’re watching is their reality, when it’s not. They’re only showing you like the highlight reel of their life, so it gives them false expectations,” said Bonner. “And then, a lot of times, especially with teenagers, they start feeling insecure and like they’re supposed to be at a certain place and they’re not there yet. So then they fall into depression just based on this false idea.”
Without dedicated spaces online, young children will continue to take over adult social media sites. These platforms give kids a safe space to interact with their peers without anxiety, but also expose and desensitize them to dangerous topics like drugs and alcohol and give them a false idea of what life should be like. Young people are also more mature now than they have been in previous generations, thanks to social media. Games meant for kids, like Club Penguin, Roblox, and Animal Jam, used to be popular, safe options for children to enjoy time online, but many of them now cater towards teenagers or have been removed from the internet entirely. People, young and old, hope that these games will one day make a return so kids can enjoy a safe experience on the internet again.