Half of teenagers say that social networks are bad for mental health

THE impact of social networks on mental health and the well-being of young people It is a theme of growing concern between parents, educators, health professionals and regulators. And now, almost half of American adolescents say that social networks have a mostly negative effect About people of their age – and almost the same proportion says it is reducing the use of social networks.

The data are from a Pew Research Center report published On Tuesday (22), who questioned American teenagers and their parents about their attitudes towards social networks and smartphones, and offers an updated view of how teenagers see their own use of social networks after a separated study From Pew in December that found that almost half of the American teenagers say they are online almost constantly.

The report comes at a time when parents and regulators have asked social networking companies to do more to keep young people safe – and prevent them from spending too much time – on their platforms.

Last year, then-General Surgeon Vivek Murthy asked the US Congress to demand a label in social networking applications warning about the risks to young people, similar to those of alcohol and tobacco. Australia also passed a pioneering world law by prohibiting adolescents under 16 of social networks. And in March, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed a historical bill requiring application stores to check users’ age and share this data with application developers in an attempt to protect adolescents from access to inadequate online content.

To conduct the study, PEW interviewed 1,391 American teenagers between 13 and 17 years old and their parents during September and October last year.

Of the respondents, 48% said they think social networks have a “mostly negative” effect on people of their age, an increase over 32% when Pew asked the same questions in a different survey in 2022. Only 11% of teenagers say they think social networks are “mostly positive” to their peers.

However, only 14% of adolescents say that social networks have a majority impact on themselves, although this number has increased by 9% by 2022.

Still, teenagers are apparently trying to control their own use of social networks; 45% say they spend too many time on social networks, an increase over 36% by 2022. And 44% of adolescents respondents said they reduced their time spent on social networks and their smartphones.

“Excessive use of social networks in our society seems to be the main cause of depression among people in my age group,” wrote a teenager quoted in the report. “People seem to be affected by the opinions of people they do not know, and this causes damage to people’s mental state.”

The report suggests that the effects of social networks vary according to gender, race and ethnicity. Adolescent girls, for example, are slightly more likely than teenage boys to say that social networks have harmed the amount of sleep they receive, their productivity, their mental health and their confidence.

These findings are consistent with 2019 research that suggested that the connection between social networks and depression may be stronger in adolescent girls than in boys, and that social networks can damage girls’ mental health by increasing their exposure to bullying and decrease activities that have a positive impact on well-being, such as sleep.

In 2021, internal documents of the Metal Social Network Giant, made public after a report of an informant, showed that the company’s research found that Instagram “worsens body image problems for one in three teenagers.” The goal has since introduced new policies and practices aimed at improving the safety of adolescents, including updated AI tools announced on Monday, designed to detect teenagers lying about their age in the application.

Girls (48%) are more likely to say that they have reduced the use of social networks than boys (40%), according to Tuesday’s report.

General mental well-being among adolescents is a broader concern; 89% of parents and 77% of adolescents reported being “a little” or “extremely” concerned with the issue.

But parents are still more anxious about how social networks are impacting their children than teenagers themselves, the report suggests. Social networks (44%) and technology in general (14%) were classified as the main things parents believed negatively affect adolescent mental health, while only 22% and 8% of adolescents respectively said the same.

“Technology is making them more afraid to try new things, make them less creative and less likely to find out how to solve their own problems, whether in relationships or practical issues,” a teenager’s mother said in the research.

But it’s not all negative. Almost six out of 10 teenagers stated that social networks offer “a space to show their creative side”, and even more said that it helps them stay connected with what is happening in their friends’ lives.

See also: Expert speaks to CNN about use of social networks by young people

60% of parents of children and adolescents look at their child’s cell phone

This content was originally published in half of adolescents says social networks are bad for mental health on CNN Brazil.

Source: CNN Brasil