After the American Psychological Association (APA) issued a health advisory about the dangers of social media use in adolescence, Vero Beach mental health professional Gwen Zorc, MEd, LMHC – who has 11 children – talked with Vero Beach 32963 about the challenges of monitoring Internet and social media usage to protect children and adolescents.
As the APA report stated, youth, parents, caregivers, educators, policymakers, practitioners and members of the tech industry all share responsibility to ensure adolescents’ well-being. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is on record noting the importance of the issue and the need for science-informed input.
Zorc, who has a counseling practice in Vero Beach, knows from both professional and personal experience that monitoring your child’s social media usage isn’t easy – and the challenge is constantly evolving. “My oldest son is now 33 years old and he got his first phone – a flip top – when he was 16,” Zorc said. “My youngest is now 15, with an iPhone and the technical ability to have access to anything on the Internet.”
Zorc said that as with most things, there are pluses and minuses to social media and families need to weigh how it affects them.
The APA guidance includes the following recommendations:
1. Youth using social media should be encouraged to use functions that create opportunities for social support, online companionship and emotional intimacy that can promote healthy socialization.
The Pew Research Center said social media has given teens the ability to instantly connect with others. Teens describe these platforms as a key tool for connecting and maintaining relationships, being creative and learning more about the world.
2. Social media use, functionality and permissions/consenting should be tailored to youths’ developmental capabilities; designs created for adults may not be appropriate for children.
Zorc cautions that social media apps are designed to be addictive. As a parent, it’s important to be aware of those that are basically clickbait. Bark, an online company that helps parents monitor content, manage screentime and provide online safety for their children, reported that the intent behind some clickbait is to spread information that is inflammatory, negative or false. Sometimes there are political motivations, but some scammers simply enjoy spreading false narratives. Children may struggle to understand what they’re viewing or why it’s harmful. The disinformation can lead to both personal and societal problems.
3. In early adolescence (typically 10 to 14 years), adult monitoring (i.e., ongoing review, discussion, and coaching around social media content) is advised for most youths; autonomy may increase gradually as kids age and if they gain digital literacy skills.
However, monitoring should be balanced with youths’ appropriate needs for privacy.
“The movies make it easy to judge what’s age-related by its rating system,” said Zorc. “But kids mature at different times and it’s critical that parents are monitoring what apps their children are using with their maturity and need for privacy in mind.”
4. To reduce the risks of psychological harm, adolescents’ exposure to content on social media that depicts illegal or psychologically maladaptive behavior, including content that instructs or encourages youth to engage in health-risk behaviors, such as self-harm (e.g., cutting, suicide), harm to others, or those that encourage eating-disordered behavior (e.g., restrictive eating, purging, excessive exercise) should be minimized, reported, and removed; moreover, technology should not drive users to this content.
Dr. Jason Nagata, an adolescent medicine specialist with the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco who specializes in eating disorder treatment, said teens should encouraged to ask: “Do I feel bad about myself while looking at this?” Though the negative effects of social media on girls’ body image have been widely discussed, Dr. Nagata emphasized that parents should encourage this kind of practice with children of both genders.
5. To minimize psychological harm, adolescents’ exposure to “cyberhate” including online discrimination, prejudice, hate or cyberbullying especially directed toward a marginalized group (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, sexual, religious, ability status) or toward an individual because of their identity or allyship with a marginalized group should be minimized or eliminated as much as possible.
Zorc added that when her kids were little, there was a family computer room in her home where they all did their homework. “But the Internet has become increasingly more hidden and it takes more of an effort to learn what they’re watching while still allowing them that important sense of privacy.”
6. Adolescents should be routinely screened for signs of “problematic social media use” that can impair their ability to engage in daily roles and routines and may present risk for more serious psychological harms over time.
Is your child getting more secretive? asked Zorc. Maybe that online friendship isn’t so innocent. The Addiction Center, an informational web guide for those who are struggling with substance use disorders and co-occurring behavioral and mental health disorders, says signs of problematic social media use also include feeling the urge to use social media more and more and using it to forget personal problems.
7. The use of social media should be limited so as to not interfere with adolescents’ sleep and physical activity.
Is your child getting enough sleep? asked Zorc. How about exercise?
8. Adolescents should limit use of social media for social comparison, particularly around beauty- or appearance-related content.
To quote Bark again, when kids are constantly bombarded with so-called “ideal” beauty standards, the desire to fit in and match them can be intense. This can lead to anxiety and depression as they struggle to deal with how they are perceived and how they present themselves to the outside world. Constant worrying about whether they’re pretty enough, thin enough, tall enough or muscular enough can be taxing, especially during puberty, when bodies are in flux.
9. Adolescents’ social media use should be preceded by training in social media literacy to ensure that users have developed psychologically informed competencies and skills that will maximize the chances for balanced, safe, and meaningful social media use.
Before getting a child his or her first phone, it’s important that every parent have “that talk” that involves how inappropriate choices – including how photos they post can affect their future, said Zorc.
10. Substantial resources should be provided for continued scientific examination of the positive and negative effects of social media on adolescent development.
Gwen Zorc, M.Ed, LMHC, is a Vero Beach native. She received her master’s in Counselor Education from Florida Atlantic University. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor registered with the State of Florida. Her practice, Splash Counseling, is located at 2770 Indian River Boulevard, Suite 402K, Vero Beach. She is accepting new patients. For more information call 772-879-5585 or visit splashcounseling.com.
