Screentime, Social Media & Bullying
In: Current Challenges for Teen Mental Health
How is this impacting teens and their mental health?
Increased screen time and social media use has resulted in decreased time spent on other activities, often resulting in less time spent outdoors, playing sports or exercising, and engaging with peers in person. This can impact teens' sense of social connectedness and lead to feelings of depression and loneliness along with feelings of anxiety in social settings offline.
Women between the ages of 16 and 25 spend an average of five hours a week taking and editing selfies (Child Mind Institute). Selfies, just like social media in general, can be fun and empowering but can also cause self esteem and body image issues. Social media is inundated with selfies, photographs and videos utilizing multiple filters and settings to achieve ‘perfection.’ When teens use filters and apps to change their appearance, strive for ‘perfection’, and compare themselves to others’ social media presence, social media and selfies can be harmful and have a negative impact on mental health.
In the online world, teens often post or comment more degrading and harmful comments about others than they would in person. Because cyberbullying occurs over digital devices, it can often go unseen by adults and involves less consequences than bullying in person. In 2019, approximately 16% of high school students experienced a form of cyberbullying (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
Examples of cyberbullying include ‘outing’ by posting screenshots of pictures, messages or personal information without permission, posting degrading public comments, exclusion and harassment.
Any type of bullying can cause feelings of depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal, especially from spaces where teens have experienced bullying.
Tips on supporting teens
Help create a screentime self-care plan with your student that balances time on and off the screen. This can include specifics about time used for certain apps, number of selfies taken, and dedicating tech-free or social-media free moments throughout the day. You can also help set time limits in the settings of your student’s phone or certain apps.
Review social media accounts that your student follows to encourage following accounts that make them feel good. Ask your student to review what types of accounts they follow by scrolling through their newsfeeds on Facebook or feed and homepage on Instagram or TikTok for five minutes and then writing down what types of accounts they follow. Together, review the breakdown of accounts they follow (i.e. celebrities, influencers, cooking or art inspiration, product or business accounts, friends and peers, colleges) and analyze if their feed makes them feel empowered, inspired, and encourages body positivity. Encourage your student to follow accounts that inspire them, teach them new skills, and show a variety of people, bodies, and abilities. Remind students that social media often gives the perception of perfection but is all curated moments that are not reality. If a post or account does not make them feel good, encourage them to unfollow the account.
If your student is experiencing cyberbullying, share how they can advocate for themselves and get support at school (see the conversation guide below). Learn your school-based policies and communicate with families when necessary. Be sure to follow confidentiality to maintain mentee trust.
Remind students of the importance of advocating for themselves, especially to prevent bullying as it may support others who are experiencing similar difficulties, potentially from the same people. If students are not ready to report cyberbullying, support them in other ways such as creating a plan of action for when they are bullied next and brainstorming a support system they can reach out to when needed.
Starting the Conversation
How to check in about cyberbully or bullying:
What you're sharing this person said (or did) is really hurtful. Let’s look at the situation, break it down and think about options to respond.”
How often does this (the situation your student shares) happen? How do you respond when this happens?
What you’re sharing is considered bullying – it is intentional and hurtful, it’s happened often and there is a power dynamic. It’s important to get help and advocate for yourself. Let’s talk it through and see how we can solve this problem.
I’m so sorry that this happened to you. How are you feeling about it today? It seems like this is bullying behavior and it’s important for us to figure out how to stop it. I am here to help you.
How to help you student advocate for themselves if they are being bullied:
Has anything worked to get the bullying behavior to stop? What have you tried? Let's make a list of adults and peers that can help you the next time this happens.
If this behavior is happening online, screenshot the bullying behavior so you can share it with the school principal or another school adult that can help. Also consider blocking this person, unfriending them, or not following them to avoid them when possible.
If this behavior happens at school, be sure to tell an adult as soon as you can so you can get support. You will not only be advocating for yourself, but also protecting others that may be bullied by the same person.
It’s important to advocate for yourself when bullying is involved. Usually bullies treat many people this way, and not just one person. If you advocate to stop this behavior it might help others as well.
