In the current information society, social media has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. However, the impact of social media on children's cognition and social development has attracted widespread attention from society. This article uses quantitative and qualitative analysis methods to evaluate the impact of social media exposure on children's cognition and social development. Firstly, we collected and analyzed a large amount of empirical data on children's social media exposure. Then, through the analysis of these data, it was found that social media exposure has to some extent promoted the cognitive development and social skills improvement of young children. Research has shown that appropriate social media exposure can promote language development, innovative thinking, and social interaction skills in young children. However, excessive exposure may have a negative impact on the health and physical and mental development of young children. In summary, social media has an impact on the cognitive and social development of young children, but how to manage and use social media reasonably to play its positive role and weaken its negative impact is a topic that we need to continue researching and exploring. The research results have positive reference significance for parents and educators to understand and guide young children's reasonable exposure to social media.

Song Meixuan. Assessing the impact of social media exposure on children's cognition and social development. Frontiers in Educational Research (2024) Vol. 7, Issue 9: 156-161. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2024.070924.

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