Facebook obstructing children's moral development: Poll

Nearly half of the parents in Britain think heavy social media use is hampering their children's moral development, a British poll revealed on Saturday.

Only 15% of parents thought that popular social media websites such as Facebook provided a positive influence on a young person's character, said the poll from the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, University of Birmingham.

The team of researchers found that 40% of parents were "concerned" or "extremely concerned" about the negative and potentially harmful impact of social media.

"There are some surprising findings in the poll, not the least the low level of agreement that social media can enhance or support a young person's character or moral development," lead researcher Dr Blaire Morgan said in a university statement.

According to the report, 24% of the respondents said forgiveness and self-control were the qualities that were least present in them, followed by honesty (21%), fairness (20%) and humility (18%).

"60% of parents named anger and hostility as the most negative trait displayed, followed by arrogance (51%), ignorance (43%), bad judgement (41%) and hatred (36%)," the report noted.

Meanwhile, the top five character strengths promoted at least once a month on social media sites were identified as humour (52%), appreciation of beauty (51 %), creativity (44%), love (39%) and courage (39%).