Teens love social media. So do their parents for that matter. Social media used by teens includes Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. According to surveys something like 70% of teens view YouTube either almost constantly (~15%), several times a day (~40%) or at least once a day (~15%). Approximately 17% of teens use TikTok almost constantly, one-third use it several times a day while about 9% use it at least once a day.
YouTube and TikTok consist of video content created by others. It’s entertainment, not unlike television. On YouTube you can find everything from professionally crafted cooking videos by classically trained chefs, to asinine antics shot by idiots on a smartphone. TikTok is mostly the latter, rather than the former. Other types of social media are more interactive. For example, Facebook features posts by individuals, whose friends (real or imagined) can comment on their posts. Snapchat and Instagram both fall somewhere between Facebook and YouTube.
I would characterize Facebook as the social media most likely to negatively impact teens’ mental health. Facebook has the most interaction with others who are supposedly your friends. It’s one where you invite people to connect with you as friends. Account holders post personal content, funny stories, tales of woe, vacation photos and so on. If you have trouble making Facebook friends that could make you sad. If nobody comments on your posts, that could make you sad. Yet, oddly enough, less than 20% of teenagers report using Facebook on a daily basis, and only about 11% claim to use it constantly or more than once a day.
Lawmakers are up in arms about social media companies, claiming they are not doing enough to monitor teen use and mitigate harm.
Even as young people report crisis levels of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, it is unclear to what extent social-media use is contributing to the trend that federal agencies have documented in teens and children over the past decade.It doesn’t help that mental health is influenced by many factors, and no single treatment works for every person.All this makes it difficult to get answers to critical questions: Who is vulnerable? What kinds of content—seen with what frequency—are harmful? And at what age?
A teen can be bullied on Facebook but is relatively easy to unfriend the bully. If a teen is being shunned on Facebook, it’s difficult to identify bullies who may encourage other teens to shun the teen. It’s not a crime to avoid unpopular people. It’s like high school but on the computer. Is that Facebook’s fault or just another way to realize you’re unpopular?
Lawmakers and parents aren’t waiting around. Recent legislation takes aim at Big Tech, seeking to protect children’s mental health by limiting access to social media. Some scientists worry, however, that the proposed rules aren’t an effective response to the crisis.“We’re actually probably going to be cutting young people off from very needed sources of social support,” said Alice Marwick, director of research at Data & Society, an independent nonprofit research institute.
Social media companies are also being criticized for trying to make their products too entertaining, to encourage use.
Pediatricians and psychologists have said that products made to keep people scrolling—and built for profit—don’t make for healthy spaces for teens and children. “These platforms are not necessarily designed with young people’s best interests,” said Jacqueline Nesi, a psychologist at Brown University who studies social media and adolescent development.Broad restrictions on social-media use—such as cutting off access until a certain age—aren’t supported by existing research, according to a report released in December by a panel of experts assembled by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. While children and teens may benefit from connections, the report also pointed to risks of disrupted sleep and attention, and aggravated body-image issues. But the panel said that the link needed more study, more money and better data access from companies.
When transistor radios became small enough to keep in a kid’s bedroom parents probably worried about lost sleep. When I was a teen, I recall watching my 12” black & white TV with the brightness turned down, an earpiece to conceal sound and a remote power off switch so I could quickly shut it off should my mother check on me. Yes, I often lost sleep. A family member relocated their router to the master bedroom so they could shut it off at night. They didn’t want their teen awake gaming at all hours. All the angst over social media just sounds like yet another form of entertainment for parents to blame for teen behavior.