The Debate Over Teens, Screens, and Mental Health

This week’s article summary is The Scientific Debate Over Teens, Screens, and Mental Health.

I liked this article because it looks at both sides of current hot topic: to what extent smartphone and social media use by teenagers contributes to the significant  increase in their anxiety and depression.

The author (an NPR reporter) interviewed three people with very different opinions: a strong proponent of the interconnection between social media use and anxiety in teens, one who sees little to no connection, and one who falls in the middle.

Take the time to read the article because it is a great example of the either/or thinking that often dominates education—sort of like the whole language/phonics and debate.

By the end of the article all three interviewees agree on middle-of-the road, practical recommendations, such as limiting teen technology use and trying to provide guidance for teens around its use rather than demonizing technology and hence sending the message to teens that they can’t talk to parents about the challenges they face negotiating their social media presence.

Clearly, anxiety, depression, and suicide have become much more prevalent in today’s teens. It may be simple to place the blame on the ubiquity of technology, yet we need to resist this either/or thinking and delve more deeply into why teens suffer. Last week’s summary posited some other reasons for teens being disaffected today, including the messages we send teens today about excelling in all endeavors all the time.

When I was a kid, TV was the negative influence (I think I turned out fine.). When I began teaching, it was explicit lyrics in music. (My students by and large turned out fine.) When my kids were little, it was video games. (At least to me they turned out fine.) Now it’s social media. (I’m guessing the vast majority of students today will turn out fine too.)

Joe

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More teens and young adults — particularly girls and young women — are reporting being depressed and anxious, compared with comparable numbers from the mid-2000s. Suicides are up too in that time period, most noticeably among girls ages 10 to 14.

These trends are the basis of a scientific controversy. One hypothesis that has gotten a lot of traction is that with nearly every teen using a smartphone these days, digital media must take some of the blame for worsening mental health.

But some researchers argue that this theory isn't well supported by existing evidence and that it repeats a "moral panic" argument made many times in the past about video games, rap lyrics, television and even radio, back in its early days.

To understand both sides of the debate, I talked in detail to three researchers: one who argues that teens' use of tech is a big problem, one who thinks the danger is exaggerated, and an expert in research methodology who suggests the connection may not be so simple.

Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, may be the researcher most associated with the idea that smartphones are dangerous to teens. She's the author of the book iGen.

"At first, when I saw these trends in loneliness and unhappiness and depression starting to spike around 2011 or 2012, I really had no idea what could possibly be causing that. It was a real mystery," she tells NPR. Then, she says, she took note of Pew research that showed 2012 was the first year that most cell phone owners had switched to smartphones. Not only do these two trend lines seem to coincide in time, but Twenge also notes that young people who report spending the most time on smartphones — five to seven hours a day — are twice as likely to report being depressed as those who use their phones for one to two hours a day.

Twenge isn't claiming to have proved that smartphones cause depression. “We have to go on the limited data that we have but to me it adds up to a lot of evidence pointing toward technology playing a role in this increase in mental health issues."

Given that all teens use media, I asked Twenge, why would the worsening trend in mental health be more pronounced in girls than in boys? She responded with social media, which girls tend to spend more time on, may be the culprit. "Social media invites comparison," Twenge says. "It invites anxiety over the likes and responses that you're going to get."

Given that adults use media even more than teenagers, why does this trend crop up in teens? Twenge says teenagers haven't had as much time to make social connections in real life as older people have, so they are even more dependent on their phones for social validation. Twenge even thinks that the availability of smartphones could help explain the rise in suicide rates among the youngest girls. "They have more access to information online — potentially harmful information about how to harm yourself."

My final question for Twenge: She, personally, made a very similar argument about young people before smartphones existed. She previously published a book, Generation Me, that looked at similar data sets and labeled the millennial generation as "miserable," "narcissistic" and "anxious." That book came out in 2006; the iPhone was introduced in 2007. Is she putting old wine in new bottles? Twenge says that comparing then with now, mental health trends are even more negative for what she calls iGen and, in retrospect, "more of a mixed bag" for millennials.

Some researchers are skeptical of the hypothesis that smartphones cause problems.

Amy Orben, a psychologist and researcher at Oxford University, says that the actual negative relationship between teens' mental health and technology use is tiny. "A teenagers' technology use can only explain less than 1% of variation in well-being.”

How can this be? Well, smartphone use is almost ubiquitous among teenagers today, while only a small minority report mental health problems. So, knowing that a teenager uses a smartphone, even for many hours a day, won't reliably predict that the teenager will become depressed. It tells you far, far less than factors like genetics or the presence of childhood trauma, for example.

Orben has been researching the history of people making dire claims about young people and new forms of media. For example, she says, "In the 1940s, people were already talking about radio addiction."

She thinks the negative trends in mental health could be explained by a wide range of factors: economic anxiety or political upheaval, to name two. And, she adds, there's a chance that young people today may simply be more open in surveys when asked about mental health challenges. "A lot of teenagers are a lot more OK to say they're not OK." Ironically, this openness may in fact be partly due to social media.

As a sort of referee on this debate, I called up Katherine Keyes, a professor  of Public Health at Columbia University. Her focus is on explaining population-wide trends, particularly in adolescent mental health. She too is a critic of Twenge's work, saying it has a tendency to "skew the data" by zooming in on screen use to the exclusion of other factors in the lives of adolescents. She says there are lots of numbers that don't necessarily fit Twenge's theory. The uptick in suicides started in 1999. The downturn in teen mental health started in 2005. The iPhone was introduced in 2007 and wasn't accessible to most teenagers for several years. We're also not seeing the same negative trends in every country, even in those where teens are just as glued to their screens as they are in the United States.

The explanation that Keyes finds most compelling is that there is a "bidirectional" relationship among teens, screens and mental health. In other words, teens who are already struggling may be more drawn to screens and more likely to form unhealthy relationships with media, for example by seeking out information on self-harm or encountering cyberbullies. The time they spend online might in turn make them feel worse.

Although their conclusions are different, no researcher I've spoken with thinks it's a great idea to let teens be on their smartphone for extended periods of time.

Twenge, Orben and Keyes are all supportive of similar common-sense rules, like making sure teens don't have their phones in their bedrooms late at night and trying to ensure that their lives are balanced with outdoor exercise, school and face-to-face time with friends and family.

So why should the average parent worry about this scientific controversy? Because, Keyes says, when parents simply demonize phones, "there's less of a communications channel" about what teens are encountering online. A parent's opportunity to mentor or support positive uses of media is replaced by "confrontation on a day-to-day basis." Well-meaning parents, wrongly believing the phone to be as risky as a cigarette or a beer, may actually be making their children's lives harder by fighting with them about it.

Parenting Mistakes That Destroy Kids' Confidence and Self-Esteem

This week’s article summary is 7 Biggest Parenting Mistakes That Destroy Kids' Confidence and Self-Esteem.

The longer I’m in education, the more I believe that the most important goal of school (and parenting) is to develop agency (sense of self) and communion (sense of others) in our children. Yes, filling our kids with content knowledge is a goal of education, yet shaping our children’s character so they can look both inward and outward equip them to make a positive difference in the world and to be happy and fulfilled. To me, everything else in education (and parenting) emanates from sense of self and others.

The article below written by a child psychotherapist reminds parents and teachers that adults need to give kids the space and time to develop personal responsibility, make mistakes, develop fortitude, and become self-confident and assured.

I really liked the author’s point about the difference between discipline and punishment. It’s inevitable and natural for all kids to push up to and even exceed expectations and limits—and it’s important for all of us to learn need by seeing the consequences of poor decisions, yet doing so via discipline is much more effective than through punishment.

Joe

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All parents want their kids to feel good about themselves — and with good reason.

Studies have shown that confident kids experience benefits ranging from less anxiety and improved performance in school to increased resilience and healthier relationships. 

As a psychotherapist, I’ve seen many parents engage in strategies they believe will build their children’s confidence. But some of those strategies can backfire, creating a vicious cycle where kids struggle to feel good about who they are. As a result, parents may find themselves working overtime trying to boost their children’s self-esteem.

Here are the seven biggest parenting mistakes that crush kids’ confidence:

Letting them escape responsibility: While you might think chores will weigh your kids down and add to their stress level, pitching in around the house will help them become more responsible citizens. Doing age-appropriate duties helps them feel a sense of mastery and accomplishment. So whether you tell your child to help with the laundry or take the trash out, responsibilities are opportunities for kids to see themselves as capable and competent.

Preventing them from making mistakes: It’s tough to watch your child fail, get rejected or mess up on something. When this happens, so many parents rush in to save kids before they fall. But preventing them from making mistakes robs them of the opportunity to learn how to bounce back. Whether your child forgets their cleats before a big soccer game or gets a few questions wrong on their math quiz, mistakes can be life’s greatest teacher. Each one is an opportunity for them to build the mental strength they need to do better next time.

Protecting them from their emotions: It’s tempting to cheer your kids up when they’re sad or calm them down when they’re angry. But how we react to our kids’ emotions has a big impact on the development of their emotional intelligence and self-esteem. Help your kids identify what triggers their emotions and teach them how to self-regulate. Provide them with a framework that helps explain how they feel so they’ll have an easier time dealing with those emotions in a socially appropriate way in the future.

Condoning a victim mentality: Saying things like “we can’t afford new shoes like the other kids because we come from a poor background” reinforces to your child that most of life’s circumstances are out of their control. Rather than allowing your kids to host pity parties or exaggerate their misfortunes, encourage them to take positive action (e.g., setting up a lemonade stand so they can save up to buy things they want or need). Kids who recognize their choices in life feel more confident in their ability to create a better future for themselves.

Being overprotective: Sure, keeping your child inside a protective bubble spares you a lot of anxiety. But keeping them insulated from challenges stunts their development. View yourself as a guide, not a protector. Allow your kids to experience life, even when it’s scary to let go. You’ll give them the opportunity to gain confidence in their ability to deal with whatever life throws their way.

Expecting perfection: High expectations are healthy, but expecting too much has its consequences. When kids view expectations as too high, they might not even bother trying or they might feel as though they’ll never measure up. Instead, give clear expectations for the long-term and set milestones along the way. For example, going to college is a long-term expectation, so help them create short-term goals along the way (e.g., getting good grades, doing their homework, reading).

Punishing, rather than disciplining: Kids need to learn that some actions lead to serious consequences. But there’s a big difference between discipline and punishment. Kids who are disciplined think, “I made a bad choice.” Kids who are punished think, “I’m a bad person.” In other words, discipline gives your child confidence that they can make smarter, healthier choices in the future, while punishment makes them think they’re incapable of doing any better.

Three Things Over-Scheduled Kids Need

This week’s article summary is Three Things Overscheduled Kids Need More of in Their Lives.

I love the opening of the article: “Playtime, Downtime, Family Time.”

These three needs foster in kids stronger resilience, self-confidence, mental well-being, and even academic engagement.

The article explains that while kids today often have a potpourri of extracurricular activities from sports to music lessons to academic tutoring, these often adult-organized and supervised activities aren’t always enjoyed by children and can even lead to stress and anxiety.

The article also explains what I wrote about last year in one summary: while parent surveys show that they want their kids to grow up to be “happy and healthy and of good character”, kids in fact feel their parents measure their success on test score results, academic performance, and GPAs. To quote this week’s article, “what you praise reveals what you value” and too often we adults don’t praise what kids do to be happy, healthy, honest, and empathetic. The stat in the article that 80% of high school students admit to cheating for higher grades is an unsurprising result of the mixed message we give our children.

The frenetic pace of the today’s world is a challenge for adults, yet the article is a great reminder that we need to grant kids more time to be kids—to play, to chill, to hang out--if we truly want them to be happy and healthy and of strong character.

Yesterday on the 6^th grade bus trip back from Saint Simon’s the DVD player broke and for the final 2.5 hours of the trip the kids has to entertain one another. Noisy? Yes. Playtime and Downtime? Definitely! Kids being kids and having fun? Most certainly!

Enjoy the weekend and the continue hot weather!

Joe

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Playtime. Downtime. Family time.

These three factors protect kids against a host of negative outcomes, strengthen resilience, and bolster students’ mental wellness and academic engagement. 

Make Time for Downtime: Every kid needs PDF every day. It is critical for the mental health of children, but it often gets lost in all the pressures and hustle and bustle of schools. Even extracurriculars such as sports, which adults perceive as downtime, can generate a lot of pressure. The trend remains toward overscheduling children as a way to keep kids supervised while families are juggling work schedules. However, keeping kids busy with supervised activities is to the detriment of what we know kids need for healthy development, which is free, unstructured playtime. People used to say, go outside and don’t come home until it’s dark, and while that’s not feasible for most families, parents should explore activities that maximize playtime and downtime, such as sending kids to a park with one adult to keep an eye on things or choosing after-school care that allows for kid-directed play. According to research, extracurricular activities that “used to be a stress-buster” have now become key sources of stress, particularly if a child is engaged in an extracurricular activity because parents are making them or because they want to please you.  For some teenagers, extracurricular obligations almost become a full-time job on top of school and homework. One way to give children more agency over their lives is by asking them what they want to explore before signing them up for classes and activities. If you allow them to pursue their interests, it will increase their motivation. But remember, 10-year-olds “don’t need to specialize.“

Prioritize Family Time: Make sure to have daily check-in conversations with kids of every age. It’s much harder to fall through the cracks when you are getting that face-to-face attention multiple times a week, and that’s why family time is considered a protective factor. Start by making mealtime a tech-free environment for kids and adults; too often today there is not enough face-to-face conversation happening, particularly at home. When parents prioritize family time, it’s easier to listen for the meaning behind the words. Do you know who your child’s friends are, who they sit with at lunch, and which classes and activities excite their imagination? It’s amazing how infrequent it is that we really have those conversations with kids because we are on to the next activity. 

Communicate Your Values: When surveys ask parents what matters most, the top response is “We just want our kids to be happy and healthy.” But the kids are hearing very different messages. Students report that what parents really care about is grades and test scores. Why the disconnect? The first thing a parent says when a kid walks in the door is ‘How did you do on the math test?’ or ‘Have you finished your homework?’ They are forgetting to talk about things that really promote health and happiness. So the kids are getting the message that the most important thing that can happen to them during the day is what they do in school, the grades they get, where they are going to go to college, or how they did on the SAT.  This pressure often leads to increased anxiety and erodes integrity. Eighty percent of students recently surveyed admit to cheating in school. What you praise reveals what you value and a strong G.P.A. is not necessarily a sign of ethics, curiosity, or tenacity. If you want to encourage persistence and effort, that’s what you want to praise. Parents’ obsession with grades is misdirected. They fret and worry way too much over academic perfection when they should be focus much more on areas like their child’s resilience. Do they know how to cope with stress? Do they know how to get along with others? Do they know how to think outside the box and be creative?” These traits do not necessarily go hand-in-hand with top grades, but they will give students something more important than a perfect report card: the strengths and habits they need to find success in college and beyond.

Focus on What Matters Most: Schools need to be mindful of PDF and that means offering more recess, longer recess, less homework, fewer tests, and more emphasis on social-emotional development. No matter what community children live in, their developmental needs are fairly consistent. Every kid needs to feel like they belong. Every kid needs to have social and emotional learning skills. Every kid should have the opportunity to be motivated and engaged in school.