Preventing Health Problems, This Is A Safe Limit For Scrolling Social Media For Children

JAKARTA - Spending a lot of time on social media or commonly called scrolling of various content turns out to be risky for the brain, especially in children. This habit can cause health problems to disrupt social interactions.

This was revealed by the American Psychological Association (APA), which says social media features such as continuous scrolling and non-stop notification are very risky in adolescents.

The brains of young people who are still developing make it difficult for them to escape from addictive experiences and be more sensitive to disorders.

These platforms seem to be made to keep children involved as long as possible. And children are unable to hold back the impulse as effective as adults," said APA science chief Mitch Prinstein, quoted by NBCNews, Saturday, November 15, 2025.

These conditions can interfere with children's social interactions with the surrounding environment, study time to messy sleep.

All of these things can ultimately cause various health problems, such as increased stress, anxiety, headaches, focus disorders, fatigue, and brain damage.

"The fact that this interferes with their direct interaction, the time that should be used for learning, and the most important thing is their sleep, which has a serious impact," he added.

Regarding social media scrolling restrictions, emergency doctors in Southern California, Joe Whittington, MD, say it depends on personal preferences, lifestyles, and destinations

use. However, it is recommended to limit screen time for entertainment, which is less than two hours per day, especially for children.

"Batation of the use of certain short periods, for example 20 to 30 minutes a day as a first step, so as not to interfere with productivity or personal interactions," explained Joe.

Another approach that can be done is to focus on the ratio of online time compared to offline. It is recommended that school-age children and teenagers need to spend 3 hours offline for every 1 hour online.

"Families can and should set a reasonable time target for children or adolescents to be online," he concluded.