The Benefits of Social Media Among Children Aged 8 to 17 in Tema Metropolitan Area in Ghana

In modern society, children actively engage with social media platforms, and Ghana is not an exception to this trend. People have, however, placed an excessive amount of focus on the negative implications of using social media, which has overshadowed the positive effects that it has on children. This study examines the use of social media by children, including their preferred platforms, as well as the positive and negative consequences associated with their usage. This was a cross-sectional study that employed convenient and snowball sampling procedures for data collection and analysis. The study was conducted on 400 children aged 8 to 17 in Tema. The Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) is the study’s underlying theory. The association between demographic characteristics and correlates of social media usage was examined using bivariate analysis, whereas the qualitative data analysis was guided by thematic analysis. The results show that 87.5% of children have ever used social media, with males being more likely than females to have done so (91.7% vs. 83.5%). The main reason social media platforms are used by children (87%) is for entertainment. TikTok has the highest usage percentage, making up 88.7% of all platforms, according to the findings. Some benefits of social media include communication, entertainment, and resources for creativity, research, and academic work. Also, the detrimental consequences of social media usage comprise exposure to sexually explicit material, addiction in children, and diminished academic achievement in children who become too engrossed in its usage. The study demonstrated that social media is widely used among children in Ghana. TikTok is the most popular social media platform among children, and it is their preferred platform. Parents are urged to encourage their children to use social media platforms for beneficial purposes, and media industry stakeholders should develop and implement initiatives to increase the benefits of social media for children. Regulation and supervision are necessary to mitigate the adverse consequences of children’s social media usage.