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Our company is on a mission to combat the fear parents feel about social media. We are anti screen-time & anti blocking/limitations. We write raw stories about real issues that parents care about. Science + details == challenging assumptions so you can decide what’s best.

Most kids use social media a lot. Why do only some have issues with mental health while others are fine?

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Young girl on a smartphone
Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

Researchers in this study focused on the behavior of more than 150,000 kids from 29 different countries with the goal to better understand the factors at play that could predict how social media might affect a child’s mental health.

It’s popular to think that screen time is the best way to avoid potential mental health concerns related to social media and the internet.

However, the study suggests that this answer is too simple.

What did the researchers discover?

Children aren’t impacted by merely the amount of time. What they are doing, who they are around, and how their culture treats social media play a huge part, possibly even a bigger part.

Let’s break down some of the details involved in their research.

What they are doing, who they are around, and how their culture treats social media play a huge part, possibly even a bigger part.

First, the researchers separated the distinction between intense usage and problematic usage.

Intense social media usage simply means that the child uses social media “almost all of the time throughout the day.”

Problematic usage involves indications of an addiction to social media, indications of lower life satisfaction, and kid’s believing that their issues are getting worse due to social media.

That means that both intense users and problematic users spend a ton of time on social media every day.

Next, they looked at the trends for the country and the child’s family. Results from some countries showed that using social media to contact friends and family, meet people, or just have fun was very common. Specifically, some children indicated that their family thought about or used social media almost constantly throughout the day.

For other countries, this amount of usage was pretty rare.

They discovered that:

  • Problematic usage correlated to lower well-being in every country.

However,

  • Intense usage correlated to higher well-being in some countries and lower well-being in others.

The culture and environment were the difference.

In countries where intense usage was common, the children that used social media a lot had higher feelings of family support, higher life satisfaction, and more friend support.

But, in countries where intense usage was uncommon, the opposite was true. The intense usage caused lower life satisfaction, feeling less family support, and having more mental health-related issues.

What this means for you.

The research shows that while nature has an impact, nurture plays a very significant role.

  • Consider thinking back to when you were a kid — how was new technology or the internet treated in your home?
  • How has that impacted the way you feel about your child using social media?
  • What about in your family now? Do you unintentionally look down on people who use their phones a lot?

There is no one size fits all solution. But maybe some tweaks and adjustments could break through those barriers to the loving connection you want back. This isn’t one size fits all, it can’t be, but a conversation can start the process of you and your child finding what fits you.

Be careful not to simply accept what the “healthy parenting industry” pushes about social media use.

This study showed that social media usage can make some kids feel more social, happier, and more connected to their family. Blocking access or limiting screen time could actually have negative effects by preventing that.

I’ll say it again — start the conversation. Talk.

The next time your child asks for your phone, ask them how they would classify your usage or your family’s.

Is it intense, or is it bordering on problematic?

What do they feel when they’re waiting to use your phone or when they have to give it back?

Help them understand what you worry about, explain something you learned from this study, and show them that you can take on some of the responsibility.

What we can agree on is that parenting isn’t easy. We don’t get to just make a decision, discipline, and suddenly everything is better. If instead we learn about how our own thoughts towards social media affect the likelihood of a problem occurring, then we have better tools to teach our kids.

Until next time.

Derek, Co-founder & CTO — INTP | Type 3

Linkedin | Twitter

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The Cyber Dive Blog
The Cyber Dive Blog

Published in The Cyber Dive Blog

Our company is on a mission to combat the fear parents feel about social media. We are anti screen-time & anti blocking/limitations. We write raw stories about real issues that parents care about. Science + details == challenging assumptions so you can decide what’s best.

Derek Jackson
Derek Jackson

Written by Derek Jackson

I’m Derek, the co-founder & CTO of Cyber Dive. I don’t believe the surface ever holds the answers, and I’m on a mission to show how tech can be good for us.

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