Question: How can we advise our families on managing social media during war times and especially dealing with hate speech?

 

Answer: Unfortunately, there is limited research on how youth are exposed to and respond to media coverage during war times and on how they are exposed to, engage in, and are targeted by online hate speech. However, we do know that generally how children and adolescents respond to media coverage during war times depends on multiple factors including their age and perceived distance from the war.  

From Pfefferbaum et al., 2020: 

  • Older children (13-17 years) are more likely to seek out war media coverage than younger children (5-12 years) and are also more likely to understand the information in the news coverage. 
  • Younger children are more likely to focus on the visual aspects of the content.  
  • For youth who are not directly exposed to war, the media coverage they see may lead to nonclinical levels of fear, sadness, worry, and anger.  
  • Children who have a family member involved in war tend to experience more sadness compared to children who do not know someone involved. They may need additional support compared to other youth.  

There have been mixed findings for youth who are directly exposed to war or living in conflict affected areas with some studies reporting associations between media exposure and psychological distress or posttraumatic distress while other studies report no associations. 

Because young children tend to localize events that take place far away (Riddle et al., 2012), it is important that caregivers help them understand whether the events they’re seeing in media are close to them or not.  

Hate Speech 

With regards to hate speech, studies on older teens and young adults have found that more than 50% of participants have been exposed to online hate speech/materials (Obermaier and Schmuck, 2022; Hawdon, Oksanen, and Räsänen, 2017).  

Given the delay in time for research studies to be published and the current conflicts in our world, it is likely there will be more evidence available in the future regarding current events, specific populations, and hate speech. With that said, in a review of studies from 2015-2019, Castaño-Pulgarín (2021) highlight that: 

  • Political events, violence, and conflict often prompt online hate speech. For example, Islamophobic hate speech is often elevated after highly publicized acts of violence are committed by Muslim individuals. 
  • In their large systematic review, Islam was the most disparaged religion; Islamophobic hate speech often frames all Muslims as violent.  

With the high exposure rates to both war violence and hate speech, and young children’s lack of geographical awareness, this is an important area for caregivers and other adults to supportively address.  

Below you will find a variety of high-quality, evidence-based advice for how to support children and teens with virtual violence and hate speech.  

Recommended Resources: 

Violence and Media 

Israel and Gaza 

  • In this HealthlyChildren.org article, Dr. David Schonfeld provides suggestions to help parents and caregivers support children in a constructive and helpful way. 

Hate Speech Generally 

References 

 

 

Age: 10-24,  

Topics: War, violence, hate speech, exposure to harmful content 

Role: Clinician 

Last Updated

02/07/2024

Source

American Academy of Pediatrics