Social media is getting a lot of the blame for the sobering state of youth mental health.
And that perception isn鈥檛 totally off base. There is research, including from social media companies, showing that the platforms can harm the wellbeing of school age kids.
But it鈥檚 oversimplifying the issue to say that social media is the root cause of youth mental health problems, say experts such as Sharon Hoover, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Hoover and others argue that fixating on just one variable, such as social media, as the cause of mental health problems is counterproductive.
In fact, educators and students aren鈥檛 even in agreement over what is hurting their mental health. In an October survey by the EdWeek Research Center, teachers, principals, and district leaders listed online bullying as the number one stressor for their students. But students listed schoolwork and homework as the most likely challenge to have a negative impact on their mental health.
In a recent conversation with Education Week, Hoover, who is also a co-director of the National Center for School Mental Health, explained why adults tend to focus on social media-related causes of mental health problems and what other factors educators should be attuned to.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Teens and educators have different opinions on what鈥檚 affecting youth mental health. What are we missing in the national dialogue?
It doesn鈥檛 mean that one鈥檚 right and one is wrong.
People see things through a different lens. Some adults might be more keen to identify something that they didn鈥檛 experience as a stressor when they were growing up. There鈥檚 a quick assumption that the increase in mental health concerns must be related to something new to this generation.
I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 completely unfounded, though. The data does suggest that, yes, there are harms that come with exposure to social media, especially certain types of social media like passive utilization where you鈥檙e just scrolling and looking at photos and kind of doing a comparative analysis of your life to others. Versus what teens may be more attuned to, which is active use of social media where they are actually finding the benefits, like communicating with others, building social networks.
Adults may be less attuned to, maybe more so even educators, the stressors related to grades and homework and those academic pressures.
What is the problem with overemphasizing one reason for students鈥� mental health problems over others?
We end up losing sight of the myriad factors that contribute to youth mental health. Then, as a result, maybe overinvest in solutions in one siloed space that can really shape policies and funding. That鈥檚 dangerous if we鈥檙e focusing on one area, neglecting the others when we know there鈥檚 not just one factor that impacts youth mental health. So that鈥檚 one big one.
The other piece is that sometimes when we do this, when we look to blame one thing, social media or homework, we end up with all-or-none solutions that don鈥檛 really recognize the complexity of each of these [issues]. So, for social media, there is harm caused by certain types of exposure, but there鈥檚 also benefits.
The pandemic was certainly harmful to students鈥� mental health. What else could be contributing to declining mental health among kids and teens?
So, nutrition and its impact on just physical health, including hormones. Sleep hygiene we know is a huge predictor of mental health and wellbeing, and sleep hygiene is notoriously poor in our adolescents.
Living in poverty, housing insecurity and food insecurity, that obviously impacts mental health. So, if we ignore that and just say it鈥檚 all social media, that鈥檚 a problem. People will say, 鈥榳ell, poverty鈥檚 always been there,鈥� but we know that more young people are exposed to housing and food insecurity than ever before since the pandemic.
There鈥檚 also grief and loss. You know, [at least] 140,000 students . When you鈥檝e lost that primary figure, you鈥檙e going be more likely to experience post-traumatic stress and depression and anxiety.
Not to ignore also some of the more systemic issues鈥攚hat do you want to call it? Political divisiveness or just the tenor of the nation right now. A lot of people will say that鈥檚 contributing to an overall decrease in wellbeing among the general population. When you鈥檝e got people who are at odds with each other, it feels like it鈥檚 less of a safe climate for people, especially minoritized individuals who are contending with systemic racism. So, lots of factors.
