Young Students May Suffer from Instagram Depression
At 5:00 every afternoon, 12-year-old Mary Wright hands over all of her electronics to her mother, Carrie Wright, for their daily “check-ups”. With the growing popularity of technology and social media in the younger generation, Mrs. Wright finds it imperative to regularly check her daughter’s iPhone, iPad, and computer in order to protect her from the potential dangers of an online presence. She also utilizes the monitoring application, TeenSafe, to track Mary’s location, text messages, and phone calls. Although Wright goes above and beyond to ensure the safety of her daughter, she still fears that technology will inevitably have a negative impact on her life.
Generation Z — those born between 1995 and 2012 — is also known as the “iGeneration” for a reason: they grew up with access to the internet and a slew of different hi-tech gadgets. New research suggests that the increased amount of hours this generation spends online directly correlates with an uptick in teen depression and suicidal thoughts, as well as other psychological disorders.
“It worries me greatly,” Wright said. “While I can monitor Mary’s texts, calls, and website visitation, I never quite know what she’s feeling based upon the pictures she sees on apps like Instagram. As a 12-year-old, she’s very susceptible to feelings of insecurity — when all you’re seeing is another person’s highlight reel, its easy to feel down about your own life.”
In the #StatusOfMind survey published by the United Kingdom’s Royal Society for Public Health, 1,479 young people answered questions about how social media platforms influenced different issues related to their mental or physical health. While there were some benefits associated with social networking, the negative responses heavily outweighed the positive.
Those surveyed reportedly experienced bullying, low-self esteem, lack of sleep, and “FOMO” (fear of missing out) due to their excessive use of social media. Previous studies have often suggested that young people who spend more than two hours a day on social networking sites are far more likely to report feelings of psychological distress.
The findings of the survey concluded that Instagram is the worst outlet for a young person’s mental health. “Seeing friends constantly on holiday or enjoying nights out can make young people feel like they are missing out while others enjoy life,” the #StatusOfMind report states. “These feelings can promote a ‘compare and despair’ attitude.”
The authors of the survey also state that social media posts can set unrealistic expectations and create feelings of inadequacy. This may explain why Instagram, where personal photos are the bread and butter of the app, received the lowest scores for body image and anxiety.
Chris Pisarik, a nationally licensed psychologist, explained that young girls are more vulnerable to the negative psychological effects attached to social networking websites.
“Its different for girls because when boys are on their screen, they’re playing video games,” Pisarik said. “When girls are on their screen, its social. A lot of the social cues they get, a lot of that social interaction, many times is not positive… and so it seems to be having an affect on girls self-esteem and levels of depression.”
A study published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science found that increased time spent with electronic devices might have contributed to a rise in the symptoms of depression and suicidal thoughts over the last several years amongst tweens and teens — especially among girls.
Jean Twenge, the San Diego State University psychologist who led the study, explains in her report that there is a much more significant risk of suicide attempts, thoughts of suicide, and depression when a young person spends more than three hours online per day.
Twenge says the surveys asked students to respond to statements such as “life often feels meaningless,” or “I feel my life is not very useful,” or “I feel I cant do anything right”.
Between 2010 and 2015, Twenge discovered the number of young people who answered “yes” to three or more of these questions increased considerably: from 16 percent in 2010 to 22 percent in 2015.
Findings concluded that these feelings increased significantly among girls, who were six times more likely than boys to report symptoms of depression.
Sumona De Graaf, an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of Georgia, believes that the increase of depression and anxiety in young people is due to their inability to change the environment around them. De Graaf said that when adolescents are exposed to the unattainable lifestyles they see on social networking websites, they feel an overwhelming sense of frustration.
“I think it’s the ‘is it me?’ folks who are more prone to depression,” De Graaf said. “They think, ‘I don’t have what it takes; I haven’t been given the resources’… you’ll see a difference — some people just have more grit and will stick through it, and others might just tap out and say ‘forget it’. That’s where you start to see the anxiety and depression kick in.”
While the negative psychological effects of social media addiction are far-reaching, the use of technology and unlimited access to the internet at an early age also put young people in dangerous situations.
The main risk to preadolescents and adolescents online today are risks of improper use of technology, lack of privacy, “sexting”, over-sharing information, or posting false information about themselves or others. These types of behavior threaten their privacy and future livelihood.
60 percent of families who have provided a cellphone to their child did so between the ages of 10 and 11 while 20 percent provided their 8 to 9 year olds with a cellphone. This age-range from 8–11 falls within the “concrete operational” stage of a child’s mental development, meaning they are only just beginning to demonstrate logical, concrete reasoning.
Young people who lack an awareness of their “digital footprint” and often post inappropriate pictures, messages, and videos without understanding that “what goes online stays online.” As a result, future jobs and college acceptances may be put into jeopardy.
For example, Karlie Hay was crowned Miss Teen USA in 2016. 18 hours after her crowning, evidence of Hay’s 2013 tweets using the ‘N-word’ emerged, creating an international controversy. While the Miss Universe Organization chose to let her keep her title, Hay remained under fire for quite some time. She used her year as Miss Teen USA to advocate for internet safety and digital citizenship so that others would not make the same mistake as her.
Wright is a strong proponent of engaging in discussions with her daughter about digital citizenship on a daily basis to ensure a bright future for her.
“I explained to Mary that this is why I check her devices every single day,” Wright said. “It is so important for every parent to open that discussion with their children — parents should be actively communicating the importance of online safety to their kids to guarantee their future success.”
Pisarik believes that, in some cases, technological devices need to be taken away from children all together in order to foster a healthy environment for them.
“One of my patient’s mothers has fully restricted [his phone usage] at times,” Pisarik said. “He wasn’t getting any sleep, he would be lying to her, inappropriate texting, inappropriate internet searching… he doesn’t know how to communicate with people without it. It’s unbelievable.”
Pisarik said that he has always enacted a “no cellphone” policy in his classes, and, though students have said that it is difficult to be without a phone for 50 minutes, they appreciate it. He does this to create a positive space where young adults can communicate freely, without checking social media.
While the bad often overshadows the good, there are benefits of children and adolescents utilizing social media. Through the use of social networking, there are opportunities for personal growth:
· Community engagement through raising money for charity and volunteering for local events
· Fostering individual and collective creativity through development and sharing of artistic endeavors
· Formulating opinions from blogs, podcasts, or videos
· Fostering of one’s individual identity and unique social skills
· Enhanced learning opportunities through Facebook groups, Youtube videos, and blogs.
For Mary, not having her electronics for several hours after school allows her to focus on her schoolwork, spend more time with her family, and practice her music.
“I really enjoy getting to hang out with my parents and my brothers,” Mary said. “I feel like a lot of my friends don’t have the same connection to their families like I do with mine. This also gives me time to practice my singing so that one day I can be famous.”
Social media can be a useful developmental tool, but it can easily threaten the privacy and livelihood of children if their parents are not monitoring their online behavior. In a technologically advanced world, it is important for parents to preach a lifestyle of digital citizenship to their children. Mary dreams of being a famous musician, and does not want anything getting in the way of that — especially not her childhood mistakes. Today at 5:00 P.M., Mary gave her mother her iPhone, computer, and iPad so that one day, she can successfully achieve her dream.
For more information about childhood technology usage, visit: http://www.growingwireless.com/get-the-facts/quick-facts
*Some names in this article have been altered for privacy reasons*