Are social platforms helping or harming our teens during COVID-19?
The turbulent times of COVID-19 are increasing the mental health risk factors of Australia’s young people, particularly as they are cut off from their social support networks, are missing the natural routines of school, and have no access to extracurricular activities. This time of crisis will be triggering each teen’s stress response, so if they are prone to feeling anxious or depressed, these patterns will rise up again.
Maintaining contact with your close friend network online can have a significant positive impact. But as screen time continues to rise, it is very important to ask the question – is social media and online communication helping or harming our kids?
As a clinical psychologist specialising in adolescents, I believe communication with close friends can improve mental health outcomes, whether in person or digitally. Hence, social platforms may be seen as resources during COVID-19. But it is crucial for teens to begin separating the WHAT from the WHY.
Social media will have different impacts on different people, and these impacts will change with time and across situations. We simply cannot paint all social media interactions with the same brush. The skill that we want to encourage in youth is the ability for them to tune in and notice for themselves: How does this FEEL?
Engaging in mindless scrolling, or buying into vanity metrics such as likes and shares, often make us feel lonely, disappointed, and rejected – and this can have negative impacts on youth mental health. However, if social media is used to reach out and authentically communicate with our friends, and share our own thoughts and feelings, this often makes us feel connected, joyful and inspired. These experiences can have incredibly positive impacts on the overall wellbeing of young people.
Apps like Snapchat, for example, facilitate peer-to-peer communication between close friends in a similar way to how we interact offline, which can help build a sense of community and support.
Whatever digital communication tool you or your kids choose, it can be used in a healthy way to build a sense of connection and support during these turbulent times. We can do this by developing a practice of noticing how each interaction on social media makes us FEEL and adjusting our online activity to move towards that which improves our overall sense of wellbeing, and away from that which impedes it.
This practice can also be used to determine how long we are spending on social media. If we can teach kids and teens to pause and notice when they have had enough screen time (based on the way they are feeling, thinking, and behaving) this will help guide them in finding their own healthy boundaries even when we are not physically present to set limits.
The online world is the way of the future. The best thing we can do for our kids is to teach them how to use it in ways that help them rather than harm them.
Here are some guidelines for using social media and messaging apps in a positive way:
TIP ONE: Make a plan. Teens can help each other create self-care plans using online communication platforms to check-in. These could include regular digital check-ins with friends every day or week, just like they would do offline. Once these are created, kids can use their friends to stay accountable and stick to their plans.
TIP TWO: Communicate openly. It is a very helpful practice for teens to regularly share how they feel with close friends, rather than using these channels for mindlessly scrolling.
TIP THREE: Have fun. During stressful times, it’s important for tweens and teens to let off steam and have fun with friends. There are loads of online games and technology like Filters and Bitmojis that help kids take the seriousness out of the situation and be a bit silly. Doing things that bring joy and laughter are an incredible antidote to stress, and will help lessen the impacts of the incredible challenge we are all facing.
Dr. Hayley Watson, adolescent clinical psychologist and CEO of youth mental health program, Open Parachute
