Growing up is never easy, and adolescence has often been a difficult time for kids. But the ongoing pandemic has made life even more difficult, especially combined with the always growing influence of social media.
Nearly one in three adolescents will experience some form of anxiety disorder, according to the National Institutes of Health. Kids who are uniquely vulnerable include lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Black, and female students.
Experts say there are steps families can take to address these issues, especially when it comes to use of social media.
Findings regarding the impacts of social media on adolescent health are nuanced and sometimes in conflict, though many clinicians and researchers agree that there are some adolescents who are more vulnerable to the effects of screen time than others. Families can intervene by monitoring for possible problems and helping kids determine how much they should use social media, how to balance that with other activities, and the drawbacks of taking away the smartphone entirely.
Stacey Lurie, PhD
“The good news is that parents can play a positive role and help their kids navigate screen use and social media,” says Stacey Lurie, PhD, a psychologist at the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, who, along with her team, see more than 25 young patients each week. She is also the Director of the Center’s Psychology Training Program, which trains the next generation of psychologists in comprehensive mental healthcare for adolescents.
The Center is one of the leading centers of adolescent health care, training, and research in the United States. Mount Sinai experts report a significant uptick in teen anxiety, stress, and depression among the adolescents and young adults they treat. The uptick emerged during the pandemic and is consistent with a nationwide pattern described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found that between 2009 and 2019, the experience of sadness or hopelessness among high school students had increased by 40 percent.
Many kids were struggling with virtual learning at home instead of in class due to the pandemic. Even as they began returning to the classroom, the experience of the pandemic had left a mark, which will be something experts will watch as kids prepare to return to school in the fall.
“As kids returned to in-person instruction, they have been experiencing social anxiety,” says Dr. Lurie. “The shift to a virtual environment was challenging. Shifting back was tough to handle all at once. Additionally, we are seeing more students struggling with attention difficulties, brought on in part by the virtual training model and the short-term feelings of reward brought on by social media apps and gaming apps.”
A key aspect of mental health care, says Dr. Lurie, involves getting families to come together to address screen use in a productive and collaborative fashion. Dr. Lurie works closely with families to address this. It’s all part of a process she calls “media planning.”
“The reality is that most young children these days have smart phones and it’s a whole new territory for parents,” says Dr. Lurie. The Pew Research Center reported in 2018 that 45 percent of teens say they are online almost constantly, up from 24 percent of teens in 2014-2015; they similarly reported that a majority of parents, 71 percent, are concerned that their child might spend too much time in front of screens.
Here are some of Dr. Lurie’s suggestions for parents:
- Kids are experiencing greater anxiety and depression these days. Keep an eye out for signs your child is not acting like themselves and keep the lines of communication open so you can help.
- Parents need to find the right balance for screen time. This is no small task, but it does help to bear in mind the new role of smartphones in kids’ lives today as lifelines to their entire community. Parents should have a conversation with their children. Finding a middle ground is key—so is being collaborative, and not controlling. For example, taking a phone away as a form of discipline for poor performance in school, or something else the parent is not happy about, is not recommended. Parents can set new limits if they think their child is going overboard with screen time, but taking the phone away is akin to removing that lifeline.
- Families need to come together and decide on their goals; there needs to be agreement on how much screen time is okay.
- Recognize that kids, like adults, see everyone on social media seeming to have the time of their lives. Help them to understand that’s not always true. Parents can help their children become informed critics of what they are seeing on social media.
- Parents need to be good models on screen time. So, for example, if the family has agreed that phones will not be a part of the family dinner, then parents should refrain from phone use at this time.