For parents concerned about the growing presence of children on social media platforms, these statistics from an October 2021 survey can be especially worrying — the survey found that nearly half of parents of children between 10 and 12 years of age, and 32 per cent of parents of children aged seven to nine years, reported their child used social media apps in the first six months of this year.  

And then there are those parents who go the extra mile to keep their children off social media, in the hope of protecting their privacy. Take, for instance, actor Blake Lively who publicly called out paparazzi outlets for not blurring out the face of her three-year-old daughter, or actor Anushka Sharma and cricketer Virat Kohli who have publicly stated their decision to not share photos of their daughter Vamika on social media. Now, take a gander at any social media platforms of your choosing and you’ll undoubtedly come across videos of young children (under 10) wearing layers of makeup, dancing to risqué songs, or enacting scripts penned for much older characters. In the quest for social media clout, how far are parents willing to go? And, is this at the cost of their children’s physical and mental wellbeing?