Is there a need to restrict women below eighteen years from accessing social media

Social media is basically the websites and online platforms where individuals can create accounts to share information and different online contents with their friends and other people using the social media platforms. The social media accounts may include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, telegram, Whatsapp, Snapchat, palmchat, youtube, Tumblr and many more. With the onset of many social media platforms, teenagers are becoming huge users of the new communication platforms. This can be attributed to the easy access to electronic gadgets such as phones and computers that have accessibility to the internet. The advancement in technology has brought about changes in very many things that influence the lives of individuals. This weakness exposes them to violence that they have faced for ages. Violence against women comes in different forms. The violence ranges from physical violence to psychological violence.

With the rise of social media usage, violence against women has gone a notch hire. Women and girls are facing all sort of violations of their rights through social media. Mostly, many parents are more concerned with the positivity that comes with the social media but lay less focus on its negatives. The young girls' usage of social media exposes them to the stereotypes that are being held against women. When going through social media, you can rarely come across nudes' pictures posted by men. Mostly the nude pictures are of girls and they are not necessarily posted by girls but even men do post them. To a young growing teenage girl, getting used to this pictures creates a notion that she can also post her nude pictures. It is becoming addictive and in some aspect, it lowers the esteem of this girls when the pictures do not receive the expected attention.

Vega Montiel) (Crehan) As a matter of fact, Social media presents the girl child to a world that is very judgmental. The judgmental nature of the people on social media can bring about psychosocial issues to girls. For instance, if there is a continued trend where people comment negatively like "you are not beautiful" on pictures posted by girls, this will create a mentality in girls that they are not beautiful hence may lead to depression. Young girls below the age of eighteen years are still growing and this is the stage that they need to feel good about themselves. On this, the cyberbullies can easily target the young girls in social media for sexual advances. Before they actually do the cyberbullying, they first undertake to cyber stalk where they compile information about someone until they have concrete information.

With this, they can easily get access to the girls in case they give in to their advances hence violating the sexual rights of the young girls. Lacherza and Conti ascertain that "According to the routine-activities theory of victimization, the likelihood of being bullied, either through cyberbullying or traditionally bullying, depends on the individual's lifestyle". An individual with social media lifestyle spends most of their time posting and commenting on other people's posts. The society and social media through advertisements have created the notion that the attractive nature women can be used to bring pleasure to the men. This violates the rights of women by making them look like sources of pleasure. Vega Montiel) (Crehan) On the other hand, it is not a simple task to restrict young girls from social media.

This is certainly by the easy access to electronic gadgets and the internet that the young girls have. According to research, about seventy-five per cent of teenagers own smartphones ("Why to Limit Your Child's Media Use"). Banning Teenagers from Social Media Would Be an Attack on Their Human Rights") Furthermore, social media can serve as a socialization platform for the young girls below eighteen years as they are growing. This is important to them as they get connected with other girls through the platform. Such a platform gives the girls access to trending information online and that keeps them updated rather than staying without access to information. Hence restricting the young girls below eighteen years from accessing social media will be hard as they tend to gain more as compared to the violence against women that exists in social media.

Banning Teenagers from Social Media Would Be an Attack on Their Human Rights") To wrap it all, the teenagers need to be restricted to the use of social media. The Guardian, 21 Feb. www. theguardian. com/sustainable-business/2015/dec/23/banning-teenagers-social-media-europe-regulation-attack-human-rights. Rock Stars of Cybersecurity House Advertisement. org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/The-Benefits-of-Limiting-TV. aspx. Bednar, Joseph. Screen pass: Should young teens be active in social media?" Healthcare, eds-b-ebscohost-com. montgomerycollege. idm. oclc. org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=36e4df5a-c1bc-47d5-90da-67918234ed47%40sessionmgr4007. Lacherza, Nikki, and Dr Richard P. Conti. pewinternet. org/chart/social-media-use-by-gender/ SMITH, AARON, and MONICA ANDERSON. Social Media Use in 2018. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 1 Mar. www. Home Page, waccglobal. org/articles/violence-against-women-in-media-and-digital-content. Watts, Charlotte, and Cathy Zimmerman Zimmerman. Violence against women: global scope and magnitude. eds-b-ebscohost-com.