Why Is Social Media Harmful to Children and Teens?

The United States office of the Surgeon General, tasked with protecting the nation’s health, recently published an advisory titled “Social Media and Youth Mental Health.(1) The Advisory describes current evidence of the impacts of social media on child and adolescent mental health, and states that current science “cannot conclude that social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents.”

This advisory outlines several ways for parents and educators to mitigate some of social media’s risks. The report showed that current evidence indicates social media provides benefits for some children and adolescents, but there are also many indicators that social media presents a serious risk of harm to the mental health of children and adolescents.(1) The American Psychological Association has likewise raised concerns about child and adolescent well-being in digital environments and published recommendations for parents to help them reduce risks of teenage social media use.(2)

Researchers do not yet fully understand all of the effects of social media on children and teens, but recent evidence suggests that children and teens, especially during early adolescence when brains are still developing and personal identities and sense of self-worth are forming, are especially sensitive to social pressures, peer opinions, and online social comparisons.(3)

“Social comparison” is the process through which individuals evaluate themselves compared to others. Social media often involves such comparative judgments about one’s appearance, popularity, or lifestyle. Downward social comparison, when individuals compare themselves to others perceived as less fortunate or less successful, can offer a temporary boost to self-esteem. In contrast, upward social comparison involves evaluating oneself compared with others perceived as more attractive, fit, successful, or socially desirable. For adolescents, frequent upward comparisons on social media have been linked to reduced self-esteem and increased levels of anxiety. (4-6)

Given this understanding that social media platforms may encourage social comparisons that are detrimental to teen wellness and mental health, what are parents and educators to do? Authoritarian parenting that tries to impose restrictive limits on teens’ screen time or social media use is not always effective. Teens are developing their autonomy and independence. So while parents who impose digital use limits may be well-intentioned, they can also elicit a backlash, producing secretive teens who find ways around the parental restrictions.

In contrast, overly permissive approaches to parenting leave adolescents without the engagement, guidance, and emotional scaffolding needed for teens to navigate the pressures of social media. More effective parental strategies today require open communication, emotional availability, and active co-use of social media with teenagers to help them interpret and understand online social comparisons and avoid potentially toxic social interactions.(7) Here are a few suggested strategies for parenting teens in a social media age:

Co-use and active mediation. This refers to parents who engage with teens and discuss social media content alongside their adolescent children to help buffer against harmful, unrealistic online social comparisons. This reflects a more interactive approach to parenting in the digital age, helping teens critically interpret what they see online, rather than allowing them to passively absorb it. Specifically, co-use involves shared media engagement, while active mediation includes conversations to promote an adolescent’s critical thinking and healthy skepticism. In this way, parents can create a buffering effect through the process of “cognitive reframing,” where parent-teen dialogue can help a teen to reappraise online content, with parents highlighting that social media often includes unrealistic, filtered, and manipulated images.

This is a new time in history, where parents must increasingly become aware of the benefits and risks of technology. Adult parents or caregivers must try to engage in a dialogue with adolescents to help them interpret, question, and emotionally process online experiences. However, parents may not be aware of risks, or there may be a gap between parents’ digital literacy and understanding a teen’s emotional responses to social media.

Emotional coaching. Introducing emotional coaching is a parental approach that shifts away from simply imposing limitations and instead focuses on the teen’s emotional responses to social media. Parents can attune to their adolescents to help them understand and manage their emotions in response to social media content. This idea of parent’s displaying emotional warmth and support is derived from Gottman’s work, which shows that parents with an emotion dismissing approach tend to ignore or minimize a child’s emotional responses, whereas parents with an emotional coaching philosophy tend to acknowledge and validate their child’s experience, feel comfortable with emotional expressions, and see these as opportunities for learning and connection with their teen.(8 – 9)

There is a growing consensus around the importance of parental communication, warmth, responsiveness, and guidance for adolescent children engaged in digital social life. Communicative parenting approaches that engage teens with active mediation and co-use surrounding social media seem to produce positive benefits. Likewise, emotional coaching attuned to a teen’s moods and respectful of their growing autonomy will ultimately enhance adolescents’ self-esteem, resilience, and digital literacy.

It appears that authoritative parenting, open dialogue with teens, and emotional support can act as buffers against online stressors and social media’s threats to teen self-esteem. In contrast, overly restrictive parenting approaches tend to backfire, and overly permissive or uninvolved parenting is a formula for problems.

There are many challenges to parenting children, and especially adolescents, in this digital age. Parents are encouraged to explore mediation approaches — such as active co-use and emotional coaching — to help promote resilience and equip adolescents to better process online social comparisons and other challenges.

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