Different types of social media are like kitchen knives. They are helpful if used properly and dangerous if not used properly. If we have young children, do we eliminate all kitchen knives?

I suggest a moderate position. If you have very sharp kitchen knives and young children, you could toss the knives out or hide them. For the other knives, it is best to teach the children to leave them alone when very young and teach them how to use the knives properly when they are old enough. This approach focuses on eliminating significant dangers and teaching children methods of safe use.

For social media, are there specific types of media that are too dangerous for child access? I would guess that Instagram and TikTok may fit this category due to popular body-size and other odd postings that could lead to eating disorders and oddball beliefs.

At any age, internet access could have dangers flowing from pedophiles. Education, however unpleasant, could prevent great harm. 

At what ages is full access to social media safe for kids? It depends on the child. Neurotic children are likely to use social media in neurotic ways, e.g., comparing themselves negatively with others. Education can help prevent harmful use. The risk of banning social media for teens is that they may access it despite bans and then lack valuable education about how to use it without harm. 

While parents are educating children about social media and pedophiles, they can also educate about pornography, e.g., by describing it as unrealistic/false, usually demeaning to women, and not a model to follow. These charactistics may apply equally to social media. 

To gradually give children more access to social media, parents can provide them with a phone on the condition that the parents have access to everything. Parents can prevent access to some sites, such as Instagram and limit use time per day, for example to one hour (to avoid squeezing out time for other activities, such as outdoor play). The parents can monitor what the child is seeing and hearing. The monitoring can gradually decrease and then end as the children show proper use. 

Ah, the responsibilities of parenting!

Photo by Nik on Unsplash