Weighing in on Social Media's Impact on Youth

The following article is posted with permission from Dawn Prosser, Communications Director, Lumen Media and was written by Renee Webb, Content and Design Coordinator, Lumen Media.

(This is part one in a two-part series on the impact of social media on children and teens.)

After a jury in California found two large social media companies to be liable of creating social media platforms designed to be addictive, a therapist from Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Sioux City weighed in on the subject.

Nate Phillips, clinical supervisor of children and school-based services, said the court decision could be a “watershed moment” that has potential to be akin to the tobacco settlements.

Cause for concern

While research is still coming in about the long-term health consequences, he stressed, “I think we know already there’s at least a pretty big cause for concern.”

Given the bulk of his work is centered on the mental health of children, Phillips has closely followed the trends and research relating to social media’s impact on children and teens. He noted this has been on the radar for many mental health providers for quite some time – and for good reason.

He cited research that found 46% of teens say social media makes them feel worse about their bodies.

“Facebook’s own research has shown that they did a trial version of Facebook on a college campus and they found that incidents of anxiety and depression went up significantly,” said the clinical supervisor. “Their own research suggests that social media can be detrimental to our health.”

Phillips acknowledged that even adults, including himself, do not always feel the best after spending time on social media.

“Now take that and input teenage hormones and the complexities of being a preteen when we don’t know who we are. We’re going through those incredibly important developmental timeframes of learning who we are and now we’re having many of these algorithms and social media sites telling us we’re not quite good enough,” he said.

Citing JAMA Psychiatry, the therapist pointed out that teens spending more than three hours daily on social media face double the risk of experiencing poor mental health, including symptoms of depression and anxiety.

And when it comes to children or teens being bullied, Phillips mentioned in the past bullying mainly happened between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. during school hours – so there were times when youth could escape it.

Today with social media, he added, bullying can be an ongoing 24/7, 365 days a year reality.

“Without us being engaged in our children’s lives to help them process that and learn emotional regulation, we’re asking them to constantly walk a world that can be detrimental to them,” said the clinical supervisor.

The social media companies – Meta and Google - found liable for creating addictive social media run platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and others. Tik Tok and Snapchat were also named in the lawsuit but opted to reach a settlement.

Algorithms

Phillips noted that each platform develops its own algorithms. A social media algorithm uses machine learning based on the user’s likes, comments, watch time and so forth to determine what content appears in the user’s content feed.

“TikTok is radically known for pushing an algorithm that is meant to provide engagement and keep people on it. All it takes is your child engaging in a certain type of content that could theoretically lead down a rabbit hole that you definitely do not want them going down,” said Phillips.

Online content, he noted, could be compared to eating food. If someone only eats junk food, they will not feel well.

“If we are not paying attention to our children’s algorithm on a social media site, we don’t know what they are eating. We don’t know what they are ingesting and that alone can be cause for concern,” said the therapist, who added that “if you are not buying a product, then you are the product yourself. They are selling your information and trying to push you towards products.”

Whether it’s the endless information – the infinite scroll – or brief videos called reels or shorts, Phillips said they provide dopamine hits that can lead to addiction.

“How often do we as adults watch those shorts, and before you know it, we’ve lost two or three hours watching something on social media,” he said. “Each platform has its own challenges, but the common theme is they want you engaged and they don’t want you leaving their site.”

Phillips pointed out that it was during Covid when awareness of the impact of social media on mental health came to light. At that time, technology and various social media platforms were advancing.

“That can create a vacuum that is difficult to pierce. If we are only focused on our algorithm and what it is feeding us, that vacuum can get filled up with insecurities, fears and failings.

The number one emotion that keeps people engaged and drives quick, high volume comments and sharing across social media platforms is anger. Anger can drive content 34 to 52% more engagement than a neutral post,” he said.

Another sobering statistic the therapist revealed was that up to 95% of youth ages 13 to 17 report using social media and one-third of them say it’s constant.

Phillips said there has never been something as far reaching and accessible as social media, so as he previously stated, its impact is unknown.

(Part two in this series will be published in LumeNotes on April 10.)

Read more news from the Diocese of Sioux City in the free e-edition of The Lumen: https://lumenmedia.org/news-features