Introduction Have you ever wondered how social media can impact child development, especially linking it to children's literacy skills? Many assume that social media has no benefit on the literacy skills of young children, preteens, and adolescents. However, social media plays a huge role in developing children's literacy skills. “The National Literacy Trust has found that social networking sites and blogs help students develop more positive attitudes toward writing and become more confident in their writing abilities” (Canadian Pediatric Society). You may be wondering what exactly social media is and what impact it has on children's literacy skills. Well, social media is “any website that allows for social interaction is considered a social media site. This includes social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, gaming and virtual world sites such as The Sims, video sites such as YouTube and blogs” (Clarke-Pearson). While the opposite side believes that social media has a negative impact on children's literacy, because it decreases writing skills “due to excessive use of online chats and shortcuts” (Alice Martin). I believe that social media has a positive impact on the literacy skills of children of all ages because, even though children may not read books, social media is attracting their attention and contains a lot of educational and useful information that can benefit them, the which means it is influencing education and is very fundamental. All children can benefit from social media in different ways. Social media like Play School and Sesame Street, which are both educational learning programs, help in learning their alphabets and are beneficial for children's literacy skills. Social media also benefits teenagers... the focus of the paper... students and families. Pediatrics, 06 August 2011. Web. 05 May 2014.4. Drouin, M.A. "College Students' Text Messaging, Text Use, and Literacy Skills." -Drouin. 11 January 2010. 05 May 2014 .5. Martin, Alice. “The 4 Negative Side Effects of Technology.” Edudemic. Np, 30 May 2013. Web. 02 May 2014.6. NCLD editorial team. "Online games." Promoting family literacy: Raising ready readers. 05 May 2014 .7. Pearson Early Learning."Online games." Helping children develop early literacy skills with dialogic reading. Np, 07 March 2010. Web. 05 May 2014.8. Power, Don. “How social media is changing education.” Social sprout. Sprout Social, January 10, 2012. Web. May 5 2014