PEORIA MAGAZINE August 2023

COVER STORY

SOCIAL MEDIA, ITS PROMISES AND PERILS Many parents are concerned about what all that phone time is doing to their children, and wonder how best to deal with it

BY LINDA SMITH BROWN PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

S ocial media usage is a part of virtually every adolescent’s life in this country and yet little is known about its effects on young, developing brains, despite studies here and there. What is not up for debate is the pervasive presence of social media in young lives. According to a Pew Research study, up to 95% of American youth ages 13 to 17 report using a social media platform, with more than a third saying they use social media “almost constantly.” Nearly 40% of children ages 8 to 12 use social media.

the indicators he cited are adolescent depression and anxiety caused in part by exposure to cyberbullying, poor self image, normalization of aberrant and unhealthy behaviors, and poor sleep at a critical time. Digital relationships with strangers via social media are a danger for any age group, meanwhile, but nearly six in 10 adolescent girls say they’ve been contacted by a stranger through social media in ways that make them feel uncomfortable, the advisory reported. Murthy called for more research on the subject, more parental oversight, more forceful regulatory action from governments at every level, and self policing by technology companies to safeguard children — by enforcing minimum age limits for use of their platforms, for example. Meanwhile, for the first time ever, the American Psychological Association has issued a social media guide for school officials, legislators and policymakers, tech entrepreneurs and moms and dads. Kim Scardina, LCPC, a therapist at Peoria’s Carle Health, points out there is no such diagnosis as social media adjustment disorder. “But conversations about the phone come up in every

therapy session I’ve had with parents and their children,” she said. REPLACING IN-PERSON WITH ON-LINE Caitlin Scott, clinical director with Family Core in Peoria, said she is con cerned about how social media impacts the adolescent’s ability to communicate in person. “I think that social media becomes a replacement activity for interacting and I think there is a loss of communication development, social skill development, the ability to develop empathy by seeing people’s facial expressions, reading their non-verbals, being able to communicate back and forth,” she said. “We have to help kids understand it is good for you to have in-person social interaction. It is good for you to get outside and do things without your phone. It is good for you to have relationships with people outside of the internet,” said Scott. “So how we get kids to buy into that is the big question.” THE TEMPTATION TO POST “What we worry about is the impul sivity that already lies within teens,”

‘CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THE PHONE COME UP IN EVERY THERAPY SESSION I’VE HAD WITH PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN’ — Kim Scardina

Given that, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently released a 19-page advisory in which he expressed concerns about the “ample indicators that social media can … have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.” Among

58 JULY 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE