Childhood Wellness

Social Media and Youth Mental Health

Mary Beth Woodward — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 17:52:26 +0000

Social Media and Youth Mental Health Mary Beth Woodward Wed, 07/19/2023 - 13:52

In May of 2023, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new advisory on social media and youth mental health. He urges action to ensure social media environments are healthy and safe, as previously-advised national youth mental health crisis continues. As youth are currently on summer break and may have additional free time to use social media, it is important to share this advisory.

Dr. Murthy shared that social media use by youth is nearly universal. Up to 95% of youth ages 13–17 report using a social media platform, with more than a third saying they use social media “almost constantly.”

Children and adolescents are affected by social media in different ways based on their individual strengths and vulnerabilities, and based on cultural, historical, and socio-economic factors. Social media can provide benefits for some children, including serving as a source of connection for youth who are often marginalized, such as the LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities, providing positive or identity-affirming content, creating a space for self-expression, and helping youth feel accepted. However, increasingly, evidence is indicating there is reason to be concerned about the risk of harm social media use poses to children and adolescents. Children and adolescents on social media are commonly exposed to extreme, inappropriate, and harmful content, and those who spend more than 3 hours a day on social media face double the risk of poor mental health, including experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety. This is deeply concerning as a recent survey of teenagers showed that, on average, they spend 3.5 hours a day on social media.

This extreme content can be spread through direct pushes, unwanted content exchanges, and algorithmic designs. In certain tragic cases, childhood deaths have been linked to suicide- and self-harm-related content, as well as risk-taking challenges on social media platforms. This content may be especially risky for children and adolescents who are already experiencing mental health difficulties. Despite social media providing a sense of community for some, a systematic review of more than two dozen studies found that some social media platforms show live depictions of self-harm acts like partial asphyxiation, leading to seizures, and cutting, leading to significant bleeding. Further, these studies found that discussing or showing this content can normalize such behaviors, including through the formation of suicide pacts and posting of self-harm models for others to follow.

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said, “The most common question parents ask me is, ‘is social media safe for my kids’. The answer is that we don't have enough evidence to say it's safe, and in fact, there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people’s mental health,” “Children are exposed to harmful content on social media, ranging from violent and sexual content, to bullying and harassment. And for too many children, social media use is compromising their sleep and valuable in-person time with family and friends. We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis – one that we must urgently address.”

There is broad concern among the scientific community that a lack of access to data and lack of transparency from technology companies have been barriers to understanding the full scope and scale of the impact of social media on child and adolescent mental health and well-being. While more research is needed to fully understand the impact of social media, this gap in knowledge cannot be an excuse for inaction.

The Advisory outlines some immediate actions we can take to make social media safer and healthier for youth. This burden cannot simply fall to parents and children. We must engage in a multifaceted effort to maximize the benefits and reduce the risk of harm posed by social media, with actions taken by groups across the spectrum: policymakers, technology companies, researchers, families, and children and adolescents themselves.

• Policymakers can take steps to strengthen safety standards and limit access in ways that make social media safer for children of all ages, better protect children’s privacy, support digital and media literacy, and fund additional research.

• Technology companies can better and more transparently assess the impact of their products on children, share data with independent researchers to increase our collective understanding of the impacts, make design and development decisions that prioritize safety and health – including protecting children’s privacy and better adhering to age minimums – and improve systems to provide effective and timely responses to complaints.

• Parents and caregivers can make plans in their households such as establishing Tech-Free Zones that help protect sleep and better foster in-person relationships, teach children and adolescents about responsible online behavior, and model that behavior, and report problematic content and activity.

• Children and adolescents can adopt healthy practices like limiting time on platforms, blocking unwanted content, being careful about sharing personal information, and reaching out if they or a friend need help or see harassment or abuse on the platforms.

• Researchers can further prioritize social media and youth mental health research that can support the establishment of standards and evaluation of best practices to support children’s health.

As your youth are home this summer with extended periods of down time it is encouraged to plan now how to fill these long periods of time without a screen being the center of focus. While not all youth are able to participate in community summer camps, enjoy time at the beach or pool there are still ways to engage in other time well spent activities. This is not to say that screen time should be entirely revoked, but monitoring and time allotment needs to be a priority of all caretakers and parents. Together, let’s spread the word of Dr. Murthy’s advisory!

Link to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Surgeon General’s Advisory:

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/05/23/surgeon-general-issues-new-ad…

Blog tags

Youth Mental Health

Parenting

Childhood Wellness

Desiree Huffnagle, LSW,

Quality Improvement Coordinator/Zero Suicide Committee

Signs Your Child May be Depressed and Ways to Help

Tara Aquila — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 16:04:56 +0000

Signs Your Child May be Depressed and Ways to Help Tara Aquila Thu, 04/14/2022 - 12:04

While all children and youth go through different moods and emotional responses to daily challenges, coping skills like exercise, deep breathing, talking with friends and family, and listening to music usually help us feel better. However, when it becomes harder to manage our feelings; when we have difficulty going to work or school; when we do not want to see our friends and feel hopeless, these are all signs and symptoms of depression and may require an appointment with your doctor.

Depression can be experienced by anyone at any time. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 280 million people in the world have a diagnosis of depression. 3.1 million young people between the ages of 12 and 17 have experienced at least one major depressive episode in the past year in the United States. 2 to 3 percent of children ages 6 to 12 may have serious depression. At its worst, depression can lead to suicide. Over 700,000 people die due to suicide every year. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death in 15-29-year-olds.

There are 3 main types of depression in youth, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, major depressive disorder, and persistent depressive disorder. Symptoms of depression in children and teens can include loss of interest in hobbies, depressed mood, outbursts of anger, significant weight loss, difficulty concentrating, and getting very little or too much sleep.

Sadness is part of the human condition, but lack of hope and lack of feeling worthwhile are not. If a child feels hopeless it is not because there is no hope at all in their life. It is because they feel there is none. This is the same for worthlessness. No one is worthless. Our lives are all worth something. A child feeling that they are worthless is an issue that should be addressed.

The causes of childhood depression are unknown. It could be caused by any combination of factors including physical health, life events, family history, environment, genetic vulnerability, and biochemistry. About one out of every 40 children in the U.S. suffers from childhood depression. Under the age of 10, depression is more common in boys but by age 16, girls have a greater incidence of depression. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funded a study which showed that a combination of medication and therapy is the most effective treatment for depression in adolescents.

While therapy and medication should be discussed with your child’s pediatrician, there are additional lifestyle changes one could also make to assist with symptoms of depression. Food and drink choices cause your blood sugar to rise and fall, which can also affect your depression and/or anxiety levels. It is important to encourage a healthy eating pattern for children and adolescents as this will help set the stage for a lifetime of healthier, independent choices.

Here are a few common foods and drinks that are linked to depression and anxiety as well as recommended substitutions for them.

Fruit Juice: The fiber in whole fruit fills you up and slows down how your blood takes in energy. Without that fiber, you’re just drinking nutritious sugar-water that can quickly make your blood sugar rise and fall. That can leave you hungry and angry. That will not help anxiety and depression. Recommendation: Eat pieces of fruit. When you’re thirsty, drink water.

Regular Soda: It has all of the blood-spiking sugar of fruit juice with none of the nutrition. Sugar-sweetened drinks have a direct link to depression. Recommendation: Try seltzer with a splash of juice instead, or add fruit/herbs to water (strawberry/mint/lemon/ lime /orange/cucumber).

Diet Soda: You may not have the energy crash that comes with having too much sugar, but diet soda may be linked to depression. Artificial sweeteners also trigger insulin, which sends your body into fat storage mode and leads to weight gain. Recommendation: Drink water

Coffee: Caffeine can make you jittery and nervous. It could also mess up your sleep. Neither helps anxiety or depression. Recommendation: Try cutting out caffeine slowly. Decaffeinated coffee can actually help make you feel less depressed.

Energy Drinks: They can cause abnormal heart rhythms, anxiety, and sleep issues. It’s not always easy to know the sky-high caffeine levels hidden in ingredients like guarana. These beverages often have loads of sugar or artificial sweeteners, too. Recommendation: Drink water and talk to your pediatrician about adding a multi-vitamin to your child’s diet.

White Bread: The highly processed white flour it's made from quickly turns to blood sugar after you eat it. That can cause energy spikes and crashes that can be bad for anxiety and depression. Recommendation: Eat whole grain bread

Light Dressing/Marinades: Many get their sweetness from aspartame, and we already know that is linked to depression and weight gain. Recommendation: Experiment with oils, vinegar, fresh or dried herbs/spices or wholesome dressings

Ketchup: Ketchup has four grams of sugar per tablespoon, to be exact. And the “light” stuff may have artificial sweeteners that could be linked to anxiety and depression. Recommendation: Try salsa or mustard instead

Frosting: It has around 2 grams of "trans fats" per serving. They're linked to depression. Sometimes called “partially hydrogenated oils,” they’re also in fried foods, pizza dough, cakes, cookies, and crackers. Recommendation: Check your labels. If you do eat fat, try and make it the “good” kind you get from foods like fish, olive oil, nuts, and avocado. Those can lift your mood.

Doughnuts: These have all of the wrong kinds of fats, snow-white flour, and minimal fiber to slow down absorption. They also have lots of added sugar. Recommendation: Make it a treat every now and then but not something you eat on a regular basis.

Processed Foods: Eating processed meat, fried food, refined cereals, candy, pastries, and high-fat dairy products, you’re more likely to be anxious and depressed. Recommendation: A diet full of whole fiber-rich grains, fruits, vegetables, and fish can help keep you on a more even keel. Instead of frozen pizza, freeze individual slices of pizzeria pizza; instead of processed chicken nuggets, try rotisserie chicken or make homemade nuggets and freeze; try baking instead of frying (air fryers are wonderful!), make homemade waffles/pancakes and freeze, make taco meat ahead of time and freeze for an easy dinner.

For more information on the many different types of depression, please visit:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/symptoms-causes/syc-20356007

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/disruptive-mood-dysregulation-disorder

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/persistent-depressive-disorder-dysthymic-disorder

https://www.mhanational.org/depression-teens-0

Blog tags

Parent Tips

Childhood Wellness

Depression In Children

Youth Mental Health

mental health

Childhood Depression

Staci Fattore, LCSW