@jym626 apparently this is key; “These results suggest a need for more research to understand how digital communication versus face-to-face social interaction influences mood disorders and suicide-related outcomes and to develop specialized interventions for younger age groups,” she said.”
Just want to clarity that when I wrote that I don’t fully understand the effects of social media here, I meant that this is a deep and complex problem that has not been studied sufficiently as yet. I feel there are things we don’t yet fully understand about the neurobiological effects of interacting on computers and phones and not in person. It’s interesting to watch people using their hands and changing facial expressions while talking on the phone. Our bodies still react to interaction as if it is in person, even when it’s not. Then again, does interaction on computers or phones alleviate loneliness, or cause it? This would be an interesting area for psychologists to study and that research is badly needed.
Aside from the “medium,” for teens, the “message” is also relevant. In other words, beyond the social effects of so much screen time, young people also have to deal with the content. It is truly scary to deal with anger online, and for teens, interpersonal difficulties can spread to others on Facebook or Instagram etc. so that a kid can be stigmatized or marginalized in a way that really feels impossible to reverse. Online bullying is so much more dangerous than the old-fashioned kind.
Even apparently benign posts- about college, for instance, can cause unhealthy competition, feelings of inadequacy and so on.
There is so much to plumb here. My kids are late 20’s, early 30’s and we missed a lot of this, just barely. I actually liked FB for awhile because it helped my daughter (with ADHD) learn to write:) So not a neo-Luddite. And here I am on an online forum at 7:30am, with no discernable ill effects!
Anyway, as I wrote before, everyone who works in our school tells me that social media is behind the uptick in mental health issues. They said, in a school committee meeting, that they call ambulances and that DCF is on speed dial. Seriously, that is a quote.
I do think that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder tend to be genetic, more physiological than a reaction to social factors, and other mental health issues can be too, like depression and anxiety. Clearly some disorders would be more vulnerable to social media. And also, it would seem more than possible that young people with NO actual mental health disorder could become depressed (unhappy) and even suicidal in reaction to something that happened on social media.