SAN ANTONIO – Social media is ubiquitous and unavoidable, especially for children and teens who have grown up with it as part of their world.
Dr. Abigail Talley, a child psychiatrist with UT Health Science Center San Antonio, said social media can have several impacts on our children’s mental health. She breaks down the pros and cons of your children and teens using social media and its impacts.
Pros and cons of social media and its impacts:
We know there are some good parts of social media, Talley said. For example, it can open up the doors to information, shining a light on different areas of mental health, but with the good, we always get the bad and there are some detrimental effects, she said. She points out that children and teens see a lot of curated and edited information on their feeds.
“When you are looking at people’s social media stories, what they post, it’s all the highlights, the high points,” Talley said. “So you are seeing all the high points of people’s lives and then you are comparing it to your own life. And with life, we know that there are struggles and then there are high points. If we are just taking in those high points and looking at our own life, then it can lead to lower mood.”
She said with that excessive use, children who already have anxiety or depression can experience worse symptoms. She also said with all the social media use, children are missing out on in-person contact and conversations, and also miss out on learning non-verbal social cues.
What is an appropriate age for children to be on social media?
Talley said it’s a personal choice for every family but balance is key.
“Do we make the kiddo to live in a hole and log off of all social media, or do we let them have free reign?” Talley said. “The answer is somewhere in the middle, so there have to be parameters. That means parameters on time, about how much time a kiddo should spend on social media and also content what they are watching and what they are able to watch.”
Talley said that can be easier said than done. Parental locks on devices can help enforce those rules on time limits.
How to prevent or combat social media addictions:
Talley said when a child or teen is on social media a lot, it can become addictive because of the dopamine hits that their brain gets as they scroll.
She explains it can eat up a lot of time for kids and can become addictive like a substance. She said parents can help their children fight those addictions by encouraging them to get outside, read or spend time with family or friends.
“Having that natural light is great as opposed to the blue light you might get from the phone,” Talley said. “So maybe that’s just walking around in the neighborhood, maybe that’s just spending time in the backyard, maybe that’s spending time with the family. A lot of times if the teen is sitting in their room, scrolling on their phone for hours and hours they may not even be getting out of bed.”
She suggests spending more time with family or around a group of friends in person can encourage teens to physically get off their phone and engage. If those encouragements don’t work, she said it’s necessary to put hard restraints on social media use. She said turning off the Wi-Fi at a certain time in the house can also ensure kids aren’t taking in too much content at one time or content that can be harmful.
Combating cyberbullying:
Talley said there needs to be more awareness of cyberbullying and parents can help by having important conversations with their children.
“If there is a good line of communication about difficult topics the conversations are going to be awkward, they are going to be uncomfortable,” Talley said. “But difficult topics like bullying and when to come and get help, if you start those conversations early that can lead to nipping the problem in the budd.”
She said these are problems that parents and the school communities need to raise awareness on to prevent cyberbullying before it can escalate.