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The Families Managing Media founder discloses negative effects of social media on middle school kids. Since their brains have not yet fully developed, this can, later on, impact their behavior to adulthood.

At the age where children are crossing from being kids to teenagers is not an easy ride not just for them, but for their parents as well. They are at that point in their life where people always hear the reason that they are just in that "phase" as excuses for their behavior.

The founder of Families Managing Media, Melanie Hempe, RN, shared how tweens usually behave in this certain stage. Hempe says they usually try to be funny, they become vain, and they are eager to try new things, the Psychology Today reported.

But as they first step on their path towards adulthood, they seem to regress. They might act more childish, in fact, as they try to be funny with their jokes that can be inappropriate. Their moods can even change drastically fast from happy to sad to annoyed to excited.

Add to that their access to social media right at the tip of their fingers. However, Hempe says there can be bad effects of social media on middle school kids because, for one, it is simply not designed for the tweens.

Social media addiction is something even adults have difficulty in fighting the temptation of scrolling endlessly. It is even more challenging for tweens who still have an underdeveloped frontal cortex.

And because they are still developing mentally, emotionally, socially and physically, this habit can set them up for addiction patterns in the future. Moreover, getting used to connecting behind the screen could affect their confidence to interact face-to-face with their peers.

To help kids slow down in their use of social media, it is up to their parents and guardians to guide them on when to stop and put their smartphones down. With the effects of social media on middle school kids, they should get experiences and interactions that are real and non-tech especially when they are in the stage of maturing.