New Media- How has Social Media Effected Children and Adolescents

Hello CIS class. My topic for our upcoming research project is "how has social media effected children and adolescents in our society". I have a special interest in this topic because I have a younger sister that is eight and   a half years old. As I was growing up I had no idea about computers because in each grade they had like four or five computers. Plus, even as I went on to junior high school, research done on the computer was not considered credible. Therefore I did not become familiar with computers till my high school years and learned more as I came into college. In my sisters case, she is already very computer savvy. She always plays games on the computer and has an email address. Sometimes when I go to Facebook, I see kids as young as my sister with a profile. I feel that social media has spread so widely that now even kids are on it and I presume that it is definitely not a secure place for them. My concern for my sister has led me to take this topic as my research project.