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Interviewer: Endless scrolling, constant notifications, a seeming pressure to always be on, for many kids, teens, and young adults, social media has become a major part of how they connect, express themselves, and build their identities. But it's also becoming a potential growing source of stress, anxiety, and overstimulation. And it can be hard for parents to tell what's going on.
So today we're joined by Dr. Magenta Silberman, a licensed psychologist at University of Utah ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ and Huntsman Mental ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Institute, to help us kind of understand how social media affects the mental health of younger people out there.
How Social Media Overstimulates Developing Brains
Now, Dr. Silberman, why is social media such a powerful source of stimulation for kids, teens, and young adults?
Dr. Silberman: Great question. And we know that it has a really dramatic impact on all of those populations. So I'm going to break down your question into sort of two categories. The first is the impact it has on our attention and our cognitive ability, and the second is more of the emotional impact.
So when we're thinking about the cognitive impact, we are always on demand, on the lookout for that notification, and so regardless of whatever task we're doing, our attention gets pulled away. And switching tasks like that is a very effortful task for our brain. We like to stay locked in as much as we can. So that's something that can be really cognitively taxing.
It can also be really emotionally taxing if you just suddenly get a notification that's maybe distressing or elicits a lot of emotion. So now, not only have you had to switch what you're doing, but you might be having to regulate your emotions on top of that. And then we have to make ourselves stop and go back to the task, which is a whole other thing our brain has to do. Right?
Interviewer: Sure.
Dr. Silberman: So altogether, I mean, it's really overstimulating, and now you put that on a youth, adolescent child whose brain isn't fully developed, it's even more challenging for them.
Interviewer: Oh, well, not just that their brain isn't developed, but some of the coping strategies, some of the experience, etc., to be able to switch between those things. Sure.
Dr. Silberman: Exactly. And what we know is that for individuals who use social media more than three hours a day, they have double the risk of depression and anxiety.
Spotting the Signs of Digital Burnout
Interviewer: What are some of the signs that you, as a professional, or they, as a caregiver, or even in themselves, should be looking for, for say overstimulation, or I think I've seen the phrase digital burnout?
Dr. Silberman: Yeah. There are a few things I'd be on the lookout for. So if you have a child that you're concerned about, some of the things that I would be looking for is, are they having difficulty with non-digital spaces? So, for example, if you've designated dinnertime as this is our phone-free zone, and maybe historically they've been able to do that, but now all of a sudden it's really challenging, that to me is an indication that it's beginning to change and becoming more challenging for them. They feel like they have to be more locked into their phone.
The other is if they're not doing other things that they would enjoy, and they're spending more and more time in that digital space. That'd be another thing I'd be concerned about.
You yourself, if you're reflecting as an individual, whether youth, adult, I would always wonder, one, is my sleep being impacted? Am I staying up later because I'm scrolling or getting caught up with something? Is my mood even being impacted? A lot of individuals, when they try to reduce their screen time, get really irritable, like it's a hard thing to do to stop that, but it's usually a sign that we've been overusing and we're pretty burnt out. So the idea of letting that go feels really frustrating.
And the other, I would say too is if you're experiencing an increase in content that's just causing you a lot of emotional distress, there are some studies to suggest that a great deal of youth are exposed to hate-based content pretty early, or other political content that might be distressing for them. So if you're noticing you're having a lot more emotional reactions as you're online, that would be another sign I'd look out for.
Why It's So Hard to Log Off
Interviewer: My next question is, I wanted to kind of revisit when you mentioned that you start to see these signs that you're becoming irritable, etc. Why is it so hard for people, and young people in particular, to take a break? Like, what is it about social media itself and maybe even some of the more modern formats of social media that just beg for that type of attention and cause this type of emotional response?
Dr. Silberman: So some of that is going to be due to the nature of the site itself. So, for example, some social media sites, most, I actually think I'd argue, do not have an end.
Interviewer: Oh.
Dr. Silberman: So you could scroll endlessly. And it requires you to regulate that stop time, which we know for most people, but especially young people, they're not very good at regulating themselves that way.
Interviewer: Sure.
Dr. Silberman: Right? I mean, taking it to another example, if it's time to stop playing at the park, that feels challenging. And now you just have this endless opportunity to seemingly anything in the world, and we're asking them to stop and come to dinner. So that's one of the pieces that really is part of . . . you know, that responsibility really lies with the social media or technology company themselves of how they are fostering that website or that app to be even more addictive and kind of keeping you on longer and longer.
I think the other piece for a lot of individuals is that everyone they know is on it.
Interviewer: Sure.
Dr. Silberman: Most adolescents, I think it's like 95%, like some astronomical statistic that you never see that high, are on social media most of the day. And so the reality is that's where their friendships are, and so it can be really challenging to pull away from that. And again, there's good and bad to that, of course. But I think that's really challenging for an adolescent to choose to remove themselves from their social circle,
When Online Connection Is a Lifeline
Interviewer: Right. So it's not just they're trying to pull themselves away from, you know, sites that are maybe even designed to keep you, you know, stimulated and never ending, but you're also asking them to be removed from where their friends are. With that in mind, if that's where their social outlet is, if that's where news and stuff come from, what are some of the benefits that social media might have?
Dr. Silberman: I think the most salient benefit is that connection and community, but that's particularly notable for individuals from marginalized groups, for example, in Utah, for youth to have access to the LGBTQ+ community. Also thinking about rural communities where their general community is a lot smaller, right?
Interviewer: Sure.
Dr. Silberman: So being able to access people who are of the same group as you and who have similarities to you, whether that's through experience, race or ethnicity, religion, you know, there is really good data to support that that's a very helpful thing and can actually improve mental health, especially for LGBTQ+ youth. Can we use social media in a way that emphasizes the benefits, but that we minimize so many of these very dramatic risks, especially for things like depression, anxiety, body dissatisfaction even is another common mental health concern. But that's the most prominent benefit, I would say, to social media.
Making Social Media Safer and ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ier
Interviewer: Oh, and it sounds like a good one. So I guess that's a good place to maybe start a discussion about what are some practical ways people can reduce or responsibly utilize social media and the stress that it might cause? You don't want to take it completely away. That sounds like it's not only going to be hard, it might actually disconnect them from some really potentially cool things. Like, what are some good ways that families can work this out?
Dr. Silberman: The first, I would say, is just limiting usage. So that three-hour mark seems to be what we, in the research, have found to be the most statistically significant. So again, if you're on social media over three hours a day, it doubles the likelihood that you have depression or you'll develop depression or anxiety. So if you can reduce it to ideally about an hour, there's actually a really interesting study of young adults, college-age adults, and they reduced their social media usage to 30 minutes a day. And their improvements in depression and anxiety were equivalent to those who received outpatient therapy.
Interviewer: Wow. That's impressive. Okay.
Dr. Silberman: Right. So I think if you can have a free intervention that's really effective, we should do that.
Interviewer: Sure.
Dr. Silberman: So, just reducing screen time, right, I think, is really helpful. Being intentional about your screen time also. If you go into it saying, "I'm going to take the next 30 minutes to brain rot," as the kids will say, or just sort of scroll through mindlessly, great, but you've set a limit and an intention, that's always more effective than just sort of mindlessly doing something because that's when you're more susceptible to really get stuck in that kind of endless loop.
I would also say being protective of yourself and your online usage. So if you're seeing content, this might be an area where parents need to step in more of making sure that there are appropriate parental controls to filter through some of the more disturbing content that can be available online. Youth themselves might have to recognize that seeing pictures of models makes me feel poorly about my body, so I'm not going to follow them. They'll just have to develop their own protective and healthy strategies that work for them.
I'd also be cautious about, in general, just what you're posting on social media or how you're representing yourself. That's another area that, you know, we haven't talked as much about. But what we post can also have some pretty significant consequences for us.
Setting the Tone at Home
And then I would just say having a plan as a family is really important. And, you know, as parents, ensuring that we're modeling that behavior as well. If our child sees us on our phones all day, it's going to be a lot harder to sell.
Interviewer: Yeah. And I think you also mentioned the no-phone zones, is that what you were saying?
Dr. Silberman: I think that's a really great household expectation of like these are no-phone zones that we have. And I think dinner is a common time for that. But I would encourage, you know, can we have more of that available? And if we're not going to be on our phones, what's the alternative that can also bring joy or movement? That's another piece, too, is that excessive social media use, we tend to move our bodies less.
Where to Start When It Feels Overwhelming
Interviewer: Now if say a family or an individual is maybe hearing this, you know, and they have more questions, or they're not sure what their next step should be, I guess what is the first step when it comes to overcoming some of these overstimulation feelings or changing our relationship with social media? Are there resources? Should they go to a doctor? What's the next step?
Dr. Silberman: Yeah, certainly there are resources. The American Academy of Pediatrics has a really great resource, I believe it's called the Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½, that will go more in-depth into different strategies that you can try as a family or at home, or for yourself.
Really, I look at it as, you know, you want to try your interventions first. And if you don't know where to start, you know, American Academy of Pediatrics is a great place to start. Try to implement some of those changes. Maybe it's the no-phone zones. Maybe you can come up with a media plan as a family. And if you notice that you're still continuing to struggle or your child is still really struggling, that's when I would seek the support of a mental health professional.
Or if you already have a vulnerability to depression or anxiety, or perhaps body dissatisfaction, you're even more likely to be impacted. Those might be times when you seek support earlier. It's helpful to start at the lowest level of care, I find, for people, and the kind of least expensive, least intrusive. But if that's not working, we can always move up the chain and get more support.
Schools can also be a really great collaborator, especially if they're struggling with using social media or technology at school. So I'd also always encourage parents and families to connect with their school professionals as well.
Interviewer: What would you say to a teen or a young person who knows they're feeling overwhelmed, but it just seems really hard to stop?
Dr. Silberman: Yeah, I would say reach out for help. It is never a bad thing to reach out to people we trust and care about. And there are a lot of people who are invested and care about us and want to help us through difficult things.