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Social Media's Impact on Physical and Mental Health
Social media use can either be a great way to get information across, or it can be a rabbit hole that anyone but especially teenagers find themselves going down for hours. In fact, social media has become such an issue that the U.S. Surgeon General has even issued an advisory warning for parents about the dangers of social media use in adolescents.
Just to give you an idea of how addictive social media can be to kids, some can be on their devices for over five hours a day. In fact, studies show that girls who spend more than two hours a day on social media are more likely to have higher scores on depression screens and report self-harm than those girls who use it less than two hours a day. Adolescents who use social media for five or more hours a day were 171% more likely to report being unhappy than kids who were on social media for less than an hour a day.
Yes, teens are reporting spending nearly five hours a day on social media apps. That pretty much means that instead of doing sports, homework, extracurricular activities, and socializing in person, they are glued to their phones. They are staying up late to watch videos and not getting enough sleep. This is all contributing to the physical issues of obesity we are seeing and the mental health crisis that has exploded since social media was introduced.
Making Conscious Choices to Reduce Screen Time
I see it even in the clinic. Kids won't get off their phones even during our visits. I've had girls try to make social media videos during their appointments. I've had kids continue to answer texts from their friends while I'm trying to do their exams, and I've had guys where I've had to remind them to take their earbuds out so I can talk to them and check in their ears.
Often parents are trying to get the kids to put their phones away and the kids just sigh and put their phones in their pockets or say, "Just a minute, I need to finish this video. I need to respond to this text."
Kids and a lot of adults seem to not be able to just sit and interact with others in the room. They instantly resort to their phones. I see this with the parents too. I start checking their child out and they go on their phones instead of continuing to pay attention during the visit.
There are no easy answers here. Social media is here to stay, but it seems to have an addictive quality for all of us. If we make a conscious effort to put our phones down and remind our teens to do the same, I think that we can make some real positive changes in the physical and mental health of our kids.