Is Social Media Harming Our Youth's Mental Health?

Is Social Media Ruining our Youth’s Mental Health?

The US Surgeon General has issued a report called “Social Media and Youth Mental Health”.  It’s a 25 page report summarizing everything we know so far.  In case you don’t want to read the full report…or even this full newsletter, I’m going to share a quote from Dr. Viveck Murthy, our US Surgeon General, which will summarize what we know.

“The most common question parents ask me is, ‘is social media safe for my kids’. The answer is that we don't have enough evidence to say it's safe, and in fact, there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people’s mental health.  Children are exposed to harmful content on social media, ranging from violent and sexual content, to bullying and harassment. And for too many children, social media use is compromising their sleep and valuable in-person time with family and friends. We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis – one that we must urgently address.”

Research can be conducted over YEARS before scientists feel confident saying THIS causes THAT.  To put this into perspective, The Surgeon General released it’s first statement on the dangers of cigarettes in 1964.  This report was based on 7,000 articles that had been published.  Clinical research can take months to YEARS to conduct and share results.

In other words, the Surgeon General is cautious to make such bold statements without proper research. 

In the case of social media, we still have a lot of unknowns.  

We don’t know EXACTLY how social media causes harm.  We do know that some children and adolescents do not seem to experience the negative effects, but we don’t yet understand this.  We don’t have a perfect plan for knowing what will be effective strategies to prevent the negative effects.  

But, we DO know that we are experiencing a youth mental health crisis.  We know that the increases in depression and anxiety have increased at the same rate that social media use has increased.  

Here’s how I picture it:

The Surgeon General is like the fire department rolling up to a home that has smoke pouring out of it.  It’s BAD.  They know that there’s a problem.  We don’t have time right now to figure out how it started, who’s to blame, how to prevent this in the future.  NOPE.  We just need to act to get this fire contained.  We can figure out those other things later.  We’ll need to so that we can think about prevention for the future.  Right now, there’s no time to wait.  Also, this fire is too big for one department.  The SG is suggesting that we ALL need to take on some responsibility and work together to get this fire contained.  Parents, Tech Companies,  Policymakers, Children and Adolescents, and Researchers.  

So, if you’re a parent looking for guidance…here are some things you can do:

-Create a family media plan.  (Set healthy boundaries for everyone in your home)

-Create tech-free zones and encourage children to foster in-person friendships.

-Model responsible social media behavior.

-Teach kids about technology and empower them to be responsible online participants at the appropriate age.

-Report cyberbullying and online abuse and exploitation.

-Work with other parents to help establish shared norms and practices.

What are your thoughts?  Do you have practices that have worked in your home?  I’d love to hear all about what you’re doing that is working.  

You deserve the peace and joy you desire.  I’m cheering you on!

Much Love,

Stacey