Thank you as always for breaking down this dense report with the highlights for parents! This is such an important topic for parents of children of all ages and we need more research on it. The world we are raising children in today is so much different than when we grew up and we need to understand how to support them so they can thrive and not just survive!!
Great column! This surgeon general warning is very timely for me as I just listened to the recent podcast episode of the Ezra Klein show with Jean Twenge who makes a lot of these similar points about teens and social media risk, though she goes farther and talks about her hypothesis that more broadly, ubiquitous smartphone access may be playing a role in the mental health crisis even independent of social media
I did an IG post (my business account for mental health related topics @relax.solve.thrive) last week where I suggested people wanting to learn more about raising children in a digital age check out Techno Sapiens (hopefully that is okay). The post was a share of my own life experience with my Hyundai being stolen last week by several teenagers and my reflections on how difficult it can be to keep kids understand that what is cool on social media has real world effects. I'm also about to do an interview with TIME magazine on the rise of 'mental health influencers' in social media. So I found the timing of this post especially perfect as I had not heard of this release by the Suegeon General yet. Thank you!
Makes sense, especially your comments about what we do and don't have evidence for. I would also highlight from my personal/anecdotal experience that some kids are much more likely to experience "profound harm" than others, and we don't always have a clear picture of how exactly that harm can come about.
Aside from the obvious bullying and sexual safety concerns (i.e. predators, the possibility of seeing violent sexual content) I would also say that social media brings some unique possibilities for profound harm in the form of exposure to dangerous, self reinforcing ideologies that can lead to physical harm.
One obvious example is the "social contagion" effect of anorexia as well as suicidal ideation and information spreading. It is very concerning when teens have unlimited access to "pro ana" imagery and entire communities built around sharing eating disorder strategies.
Depending on how you feel about gender ideology, that too can be a source of concern - the recent huge surge of teenage girls showing up at "gender therapy" clinics in the past 5-10 years can definitely be linked to social media campaigns and certain ideologies spreading on social media. For some kids who are questioning but turn out not to be trans, this can lead to serious harm through irreversible hormone "therapies" and even surgeries in some cases. I'm not saying hormone therapy is never good for anyone, but I am saying we have seen huge numbers of kids becoming medicalized for life by "affirming care" after they were not actually properly vetted to be trans. It is a shocking scandal and many people are not aware of this happening to kids in the US and Canada.
These are things to be aware of, and informed about, when parenting a teen who uses social media.
Thank you as always for breaking down this dense report with the highlights for parents! This is such an important topic for parents of children of all ages and we need more research on it. The world we are raising children in today is so much different than when we grew up and we need to understand how to support them so they can thrive and not just survive!!
Great column! This surgeon general warning is very timely for me as I just listened to the recent podcast episode of the Ezra Klein show with Jean Twenge who makes a lot of these similar points about teens and social media risk, though she goes farther and talks about her hypothesis that more broadly, ubiquitous smartphone access may be playing a role in the mental health crisis even independent of social media
I did an IG post (my business account for mental health related topics @relax.solve.thrive) last week where I suggested people wanting to learn more about raising children in a digital age check out Techno Sapiens (hopefully that is okay). The post was a share of my own life experience with my Hyundai being stolen last week by several teenagers and my reflections on how difficult it can be to keep kids understand that what is cool on social media has real world effects. I'm also about to do an interview with TIME magazine on the rise of 'mental health influencers' in social media. So I found the timing of this post especially perfect as I had not heard of this release by the Suegeon General yet. Thank you!
I apologize for the typos! I would edit the comment if I could, but it won't allow me in the app to do so 🙃
Wonderful summary. The difference between good intentions and actual implementation of boundaries can be pretty wide for phone/social media use.
Makes sense, especially your comments about what we do and don't have evidence for. I would also highlight from my personal/anecdotal experience that some kids are much more likely to experience "profound harm" than others, and we don't always have a clear picture of how exactly that harm can come about.
Aside from the obvious bullying and sexual safety concerns (i.e. predators, the possibility of seeing violent sexual content) I would also say that social media brings some unique possibilities for profound harm in the form of exposure to dangerous, self reinforcing ideologies that can lead to physical harm.
One obvious example is the "social contagion" effect of anorexia as well as suicidal ideation and information spreading. It is very concerning when teens have unlimited access to "pro ana" imagery and entire communities built around sharing eating disorder strategies.
Depending on how you feel about gender ideology, that too can be a source of concern - the recent huge surge of teenage girls showing up at "gender therapy" clinics in the past 5-10 years can definitely be linked to social media campaigns and certain ideologies spreading on social media. For some kids who are questioning but turn out not to be trans, this can lead to serious harm through irreversible hormone "therapies" and even surgeries in some cases. I'm not saying hormone therapy is never good for anyone, but I am saying we have seen huge numbers of kids becoming medicalized for life by "affirming care" after they were not actually properly vetted to be trans. It is a shocking scandal and many people are not aware of this happening to kids in the US and Canada.
These are things to be aware of, and informed about, when parenting a teen who uses social media.