Developing healthy social media habits

What can you do if you think your teen already has unhealthy social media habits? Many parents worry about how much their children use social media and what content they might encounter while using it. Amid proposals to ban teenagers under 16 years from social media and calls to better educate them about being safe online, how can you tell if your child’s social media usage is already a problem? And what steps can you take to help if there is an issue? It is easy to get hooked These platforms are designed in a way that releases dopamine (the “feel-good” hormone) for users. This can make it especially difficult for adolescents to resist. As psychologists explain, from the onset of puberty until the mid-20s, our brains are hypersensitive to social feedback and stimuli. This means young people are more likely to engage in behaviour that can lead to praise or attention from peers and others. So it can be harder for a young person to resist responding to notifications or ‘likes’. Young people also are developing impulse control, which can have implications for scrolling habits and make it harder for them to stop. There are benefits and risks Certainly there are numerous benefits to social media use, such as social connection, information and support. But also there are risks. Although it is not necessarily causal, there are proven links between social media use and depression, anxiety, stress, sleep disorders, many aspects of cyberbullying and body image issues. So it is understandable if parents have concerns about their children’s use of platforms such as TikTok, Instagram or Snapchat. Are we talking about a ‘problem’ or an ‘addiction’? Often terms such as “problematic” and “addiction” are used interchangeably when talking about social media use. But there is no consensus among experts about how to differentiate between them or even if they should be differentiated. Although some researchers argue social media addiction presents in similar ways to other behavioural addictions such as gambling, it is not recognised as a clinical disorder. We need to be careful about referring to social media use as a clinical disorder or addiction. It can be more helpful to use terms such as “problematic” or “unhealthy” until we know more. Is there any advice on how much time is OK? Australian guidelines suggest children and young people between age 5-17 should spend no more than two hours of sedentary recreational screen time per day (not including school work). But as the eSafety Commissioner notes, there is no “magic figure”. It depends on a range of factors such as a child’s maturity and age, the type and quality of content they are consuming and if it involves watching alone or with a carer. There are no specific guidelines around social media use. How can you tell if there’s a problem? Keeping track of what teenagers are doing online can be very difficult, especially if they have their own devices. So it means parents and carers will have to…