Is Social Media Harmful to Teens’ Mental Health?

Is Social Media Harmful to Teens’ Mental Health?

Here’s The Scoop

In response to growing concerns over the safety of young users, Instagram has announced significant changes to its platform, aimed at protecting teenagers. Starting this week, new users under 18 in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia will automatically have private accounts. Existing teen accounts will transition to this default over the next 60 days, with European teens seeing similar changes later this year.

Meta, Instagram’s parent company, acknowledges the challenge of teenagers lying about their age when signing up but promises to implement stricter age verification measures. Meta is also developing technology to detect and restrict accounts pretending to be adults.

In addition to making accounts private, teen users will face more stringent messaging restrictions, limiting their ability to message users they don’t follow. Content deemed “sensitive,” such as violence or cosmetic procedure promotions, will also be restricted. Teens will receive prompts if they spend more than 60 minutes on the app and will have access to a “sleep mode,” which deactivates notifications from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Teens aged 16 and 17 can opt out of these settings, but younger users will need parental consent to do so. Meta’s head of product, Naomi Gleit, emphasized that these changes address the main concerns parents have expressed, particularly regarding unwanted content, unsolicited contact, and excessive screen time.

“The three concerns we’re hearing from parents are that their teens are seeing content that they don’t want to see or that they’re getting contacted by people they don’t want to be contacted by or that they’re spending too much on the app,” Gleit said.

This announcement is part of Meta’s broader effort to address the potential harms linked to social media use among young people. The move comes after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned about the connection between social media and young people’s mental health. Murthy has called for a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, similar to those on tobacco products, to remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proven safe.

According to Yale Medicine, excessive social media use can lead to issues like disrupted sleep, attention problems, and exposure to harmful content. Some studies link heavy social media use to increased anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.

Meta’s past efforts to enhance teen safety have faced criticism for falling short, with several U.S. states filing lawsuits accusing Meta of fueling a youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing addictive features on Instagram and Facebook.

In an effort to address these concerns, Meta is giving parents more options to oversee their kids’ accounts and is encouraging parents to use its Family Center tool to monitor their teens’ interactions and promote important conversations about online behavior.

As always, it’s crucial for parents to stay vigilant and proactive in guiding their children through the digital landscape, ensuring they are protected from the potential dangers lurking online.

What do you think? Let us know by participating in our poll, or join the discussion in the comment section below!

Source