The Impact of Social Media on Teenagers: Benefits, Risks, and Managing Consumption

Media is everywhere. Our phones are always with us. Social media is today’s most popular way to spend time in the space between other parts of our lives. Given a moment when anyone is looking to distract themselves (waiting in line, commuting, on the toilet, or just plain bored), our phone is what we tend to pick up, and social media is where we go. By now, we’ve all heard about social media's negative impacts (the shadows). But why is it bad, especially for teenagers? And as a parent, what can you do about it?

For teenagers today who've grown up around technology, with smartphones, iPads, and computers in their bedrooms, tech is an essential part of life: communicating with parents, accessing school assignments, and socializing through social media.

Social media use has increased over the last ten years, especially among teenagers. While social media and technology are not necessarily bad, parents need to ensure that their teens use them balanced and sustainably.

Benefits of social media

Phones and technology provide a vibrant community at our fingertips. Teenagers engaging in safe and healthy ways on social media have the potential to feel deeply connected to other people, fostering a sense of community that is one of the key reasons people use these platforms.

Social media can be a powerful tool for teenagers to express themselves and learn. It offers unparalleled opportunities and access to information that would be challenging to find otherwise, serving as a digital encyclopedia of learning in your pocket.

Teens can easily stay connected to other family and friends or bond with others who live in different countries. Social media can expand one's orbit dramatically, giving us access to know others we might otherwise never meet in person.

Risks of social media

As with anything, social media and technology offer us risks, and challenges can arise. When determining if and how to manage social media for your teen, you are better prepared when you know and understand the risks involved and how to manage them.  

Cyberbullying 

Unfortunately, one of the downsides of social media is cyberbullying. No one is exempt from this type of harassment and online abuse, but it is prevalent among teenagers.

As teens develop their egos in this phase of life, they try on identities and self-expression against and with one another. When bullying happens in the schoolyard, it is a moment in time that some people witness. When it occurs online, bullying gets exposed to massive amounts of people, and it can be there forever, which can be humiliating to the developing and fragile ego of a teen. Someone can be anonymous while spreading harmful and hateful messages. Bullying can provide a rush of power to a poster, and with teens' limitations in self-reflection, without awareness or consideration of consequences to others or themselves.

It would be essential to help your teen manage any feelings that arise from social media posts they see. Teaching teens how to orient to social media, what it's for, and how to use and not use it. Helping your teen have a healthy amount of technology and learn to self-regulate in their consumption is crucial in supporting healthy brain and social development.

Increased mental health struggles

Exposure to negative images, messages, and news leads to feelings of sadness and depression, and teenagers can be sensitive about what they see as they are trying to understand the larger world. With social media constantly updated with good and bad messages, it's easy to get down a rabbit hole of adverse events. We know that algorithms can personalize while also encoding biases. Teens need support learning to balance their perspectives and not see the world in black and white. Moving beyond "good/bad, black/white" thinking offers mature development into adulthood.

Self-esteem is unstable during teen years, and social media offers an easy trap of comparison. Teenagers often seek validation as they grow and change, and social media can become a popularity contest. Teenagers can feel tremendous pressure to maintain specific standards, and if their posts don't go viral, they could be concerned that they're not good enough. 

Poor communication skills

A significant part of teenage development involves learning social skills and tools. Interactively learning about others is crucial for identifying how to foster healthy relationships. When teenagers rely too much on texting, messaging, and posting to their social media, they can miss out on nonverbal cues, voice inflection, and overall body language of the person they're speaking to, limiting their ability to grow relationally.

Social media can be a great way to connect, but it also diminishes one's ability to be authentic. Messages, like tone, can be easily misconstrued without nonverbal and physical communication and unintentionally leave one with hurt feelings.

Limit consumption of social media

Parents can take charge and decide how to set boundaries and limits on social media for their teenagers. By being aware of their own consumption and reliance on phones, parents can set a positive example for their teens and effectively manage their social media use.

As with anything, the trick is to help teens develop self-regulation skills: regulate their time, attention, and energy toward things beyond their online lives. Help foster life beyond technology: Teens need more excitement offline—things that interest them beyond the phone. That might mean they need something exciting to do in real life, offline—something meaningful, motivating/excitable, or helping them grow.

Ways to Support Healthy Social Media Consumption

• Limit social media and screen time to specific times of the day and a certain amount. Create device-free time in spaces within your home. This could include saying no electronics during meals or within so many hours before bedtime and after waking up. These limits offer space for activities other than being on one's phone. It pushes teens to work to find their entertainment or purpose, a crucial life development skill in creativity and resilience.

• Focus not only on the limits but also on why and what they provide. Teenagers will inevitably respect your decisions more when you teach them and guide them as they grow and encounter more of the world. Explaining why you enforce a limit will help them understand and respect you. A simple "Because I said so" will not go over well with a teen and is begging for pushback. Your relationship will deepen when you explain yourself while listening to, navigating, and respecting their response or upset. As you go through the phase of raising an adolescent, negotiation, and communication, where both sides feel understood, work wonders.

• Boundaries and privacy are important aspects of growing into healthy, self-confident adults. Parents will want to check their impulses to bulldoze boundaries, including if they request open access to their social media accounts. Impulses of care and safety are well intended, but execution and navigating this boundary line are essential. (And for those who didn't know, teens often create private spaces beyond their parents' awareness, which is a healthy attempt to make the separation required for mature adulthood. It usually occurs in secrecy if they feel you won’t honor their boundaries.) Whichever approach you take to monitoring social media, emphasize that you intend to help keep them safe.

If you want to learn more about how social media impacts teenagers, teen counseling can be a great resource. Please reach out today to learn more.