Social Media and Mental Health
In the last few years, depression and anxiety rates have increased by 30% in teenagers. While there is no concrete explanation for this increase in depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies in younger people, there could be a cultural explanation, and that’s the massive rise of social media usage.
According to 2021 statistics, the average person spends a bit more than 2 hours on social media every day. while teens’ average screen time has gone from 5 hours to more than 8 hours a day. With younger people spending almost one-third of their day on different social media platforms, and almost 90% of 13 to 22-year-olds being on social media, the question is how this exposure affects their mental health.
The Center for Collegiate Mental Health found that the top three diagnoses on university campuses are anxiety, depression, and stress. As people who spend a lot of time online tend to reduce their communication with family members and may reduce their real-life social circle, we also see that people who spend a lot of time online have a reduction in sleep and sleep quality. Numerous studies from the US, Canada, the UK, have also found a connection between high social media usage and high levels of anxiety and depression.
As Bailey Parnell, Founder of SkillsCamp explains in her TED talk on this topic, there are four common pitfalls on social media that, if left unchecked, have the potential to become mental health issues.
The highlight reel: Social media is our personal highlight reel. It's where we share our victories, best moments, or when we look and feel great. However, we may struggle with insecurity because we may constantly compare ourselves to others. On the other hand, when our highlights do well, we encounter the second stressor on social media.
Social currency: On social media, likes, comments, and shares have become a form of social currency by which we attribute value to something. The more attention we receive, the better we feel. This leads to everything competing for our attention. And when we give something a like or a piece of finite attention, it becomes a recorded transaction attributing value, which is great if we’re selling something. The problem is on social media, because we are the product, and we're letting others attribute value to us. You may be someone who’s taken down a photo because it didn't get as many likes as you thought it would. We take our product off the shelf because it’s not selling fast enough.
This can affect our sense of identity as we tie our self-worth with what others think about us, and then quantify it for everyone to see.
FOMO or Fear of missing out: As a society, we have become so used to being in the know all the time, you can go on online at any point and find out about activities or how people are doing, and this creates FOMO. FOMO is considered an actual social anxiety symptom, related to the fear that you were missing a potential connection, event, or opportunity. A study made on several Canadian universities found that 7 out of 10 students said they would get rid of their social networking accounts If it weren’t for fear of being left “out of the loop”.
Online harassment: FOMO, highlight reels, and social currency are all results of a relatively normal social media experience. But what happens when other people not only make you doubt your self-worth but your safety? There is an outstanding number of statistics related to online harassment: 40% of online adults have experienced it first hand, 73% have witnessed it, and could be more likely if you are part of a minority group. One of the issues is that in the news, we tend to see the big stories, but it’s the smaller interactions that occur every single day via social media, that over time, can create a greater problem. We have to recognize these everyday instances as being just as destructive.
On top of all of this, social media usage has caused impairments similar to substance dependencies. With every like we experience a shot of dopamine and we gain more of that social currency. In order to feel good, we check likes, just one more time. We post just one more time. This can create anxiety, and if we don't have access to it we may even experience withdrawal symptoms.
So, what can we do as parents to help?
As parents, we need preventative measures and coping strategies in order to have a more fulfilling social media experience, for ourselves and our teens.
1. The first step is being aware of the consequences that social media has so that you are able to recognize these effects, if and when they happen to you.
2. Another thing that you could do is audit yours and your child’s social media consumption and limit your time on each platform. The same way we monitor what goes into our mouth, monitor what goes into our head and heart, and a good balance is a key to having healthy habits on social media. You can set aside times when you can interact, and times when you log off and ignore notifications. It is particularly important when you’re spending time with friends or family and before you go to sleep.
3. If you notice that using social media is making you or your child feel anxious or depressed, it’s a good idea to take a break for a few days. Unplugging helps you recharge your batteries and helps you refocus on what’s most important in your life.
It’s important to take into consideration that social media is a tool that can be used for good, to lift us up and create space to connect with people, but understanding how to manage it if it starts to tear us down and leave us feeling depressed and inadequate is vital for ours and our children’s wellbeing as well.
Reminder: If you feel like social media is impacting your mood more than you’d like, and taking a break isn’t helping you find relief, then consider reaching out and speaking with someone. our counselors specialize in both teen therapy and Evidence-based therapy for anxiety and depression
If you’re even curious about what therapy could do for you or your teen, please don’t hesitate to book your free 15-minute consult call now!
