Social media usage has gained traction, particularly among teens. Today, parents are more concerned about social media addiction than any other form of addiction. Why? It is easier to catch onto the other addictions due to their visible effects, social media addiction though can be undetectable even in plain sight.
Due to its not-so-prominent early signs, lack of supervision, and unrestricted social media usage, social media addiction in teens has now reached a dangerous level.
To make matters worse, teens are the most susceptible among the demographic to fall prey to social media addiction. The reasons are their constant need to feel connected with their peers, to relate to what is going on in the digital world, and to be in on the jokes chronically online individuals share.
Moreover, their lack of reasoning and rationality makes matters worse because they do not dwell on the negative consequences of it all and act impulsively. In this article, we will explore the causes, effects, and preventive measures of social media addiction.
Social Media Addiction Impact on Future and Education
However, before that it is better if we address the biggest concern among parents i.e., does social media addiction impact their kids’ future and academic growth? Well, the short answer is yes, it does. A UD study suggests that excessive use of social media can decrease academic growth and achievements in tweens and teens.
Factors like distraction, poor mental health, less study time, and disrupted sleeping or eating habits can negatively influence a teen’s academic progress. Therefore, if your child is constantly hooked to their phone and busy doomscrolling, their grades are going to plummet.
Causes of Social Media Addiction in Teens
To prevent your child from becoming a victim of social media addiction, you need to be well-versed in its causes and remove them before their usage and addictive patterns escalate. Discussed below are some significant reasons that lead to social media addiction among teens:
FoMO
FoMO (Fear of Missing Out) is one of the prime reasons that teens get addicted to social media. On various platforms, they continuously come across people living seemingly very exciting lives, in fear of missing out on these life experiences, they continue to go back to the platform to check for more updates. With the need to regularly see their new content and adventures or experiences, teens develop addictive patterns that take them down a whirlpool of despair and anxiety.
Peer Pressure
Negative peer pressure can push teens to do anything, even if it means using social media to the point of addiction. Most teenagers during their developmental years struggle with their self-worth and feel the need to conform with their peers and friends. Therefore, to remain friends, and continue being a part of the inner circle, teens can use social media platforms needlessly.
Addictive Features
Social media is addictive. We are all aware of this very obvious fact. However, what truly makes it addictive? Well, the features in most popular platforms work towards keeping the user hooked. Some of their most prominent features are the reward system, personalized algorithm, endless scrolling, and instant gratification. All of them together aim to psychologically manipulate, form habits, and release dopamine in users. Therefore, compelling them to come back repeatedly.
Lack of Supervision
As a parent, if you are not supervising your child’s phone and social media then they are bound to develop addictive patterns of usage. As discussed earlier, kids cannot be left to their own devices because of their lack of rational thinking and inability to manage screen time. If you are not properly monitoring them then they will keep wasting too much time on social media without realizing it.
There is no doubt that the factors influencing social media addiction in teens are innumerable. However, the ones mentioned above are the most impactful, and commonplace.
Long-Term Effects of Social Media Addiction in Teens
Now, once in the grasp of social media addiction caused by one or more of the above-mentioned factors, your teen can suffer from negative, long-term effects. These effects will not only adversely impact their mental and emotional state but can also put at risk their physical well-being.
Therefore, for better awareness and understanding of parents, we have talked about the most paramount effects of social media addiction in teens. They include:
Mental Health Issues
Many studies suggest a direct link between social media addiction and mental health issues. Teens who excessively use social media are more prone to mental health problems than their counterparts. Common issues associated with addiction are depression, anxiety, sleep disruption, etc. Moreover, these addictive patterns can also lead to a distorted sense of reality and can result in a need for validation and fear of non-conformity.
Low Self-Esteem
Teens’ self-esteem can also take a big hit if they are active users of social media. Due to the constant comparison to what they see on social media, they can feel inferior. Since they do not realize that these carefully created profiles are not someone’s complete reality, they perceive themselves and their reality negatively. Moreover, unrealistic beauty standards and comparisons of achievements on these platforms compel teens to depreciate themselves.
Social Isolation
Social media addiction correlates to social isolation directly because of a lack of real-life interactions and conversations. Since teens replace these conversations with online interactions, they dissociate from their surroundings, family, and friends which leaves them feeling lonely. This absence of meaningful, face-to-face conversations can make the teen further withdraw into themselves.
Exposure to Abuse
Regular and unrestricted use of social media can expose teens to online abuse. As their time on various platforms increases so does their likelihood of coming across online abuse. All in all, their vulnerability, declining mental state, and overall social pressure make them easy targets for abusers. Cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, grooming, harassment, and identity theft are some of the forms of abuse your teen can encounter on various social platforms.
Practical Ways to Prevent Teenage Social Media Addiction
So, the important question is, is this inevitable? Is your teen bound to get addicted to social media? No, if you take proper preventive measures and help them through this stage then your child will persevere and not fall for any peer pressure or addictive features. Before you allow your child to have a social media presence, protect them by putting in place one or more of the four measures given below. They include:
Practice Supervision
According to a study, 46% of U.S. teens are online almost constantly. This directly translates to them being vulnerable and exposed to online abuse and other social media risks. In such precarious situations, child monitoring applications can come in handy. These apps aim to provide parents with some semblance of peace by offering them limitless, remote, and discreet access to their child’s phone.
Xnspy is one suc parental app for monitoring social media, that has over 20 features and tracks complete phone activity. Moreover, it also keeps you updated on their offline phone activity, such as SMS, calls, etc.
Social media monitoring is facilitated by Xnspy and allows you to keep tabs on your child’s engagements, content consumption, messages, shared media, and much more. You can even check their online friends, profile details, settings, and login credentials. All these logs are made accessible with the help of Xnspy’s IM chats, keylogger, screen recorder, and media file tracker.
The IM chats provide you with a list and chat view for all their private conversations taking place on various social media platforms. The keylogger, on the other hand, covers everything they are writing outside of these direct messages i.e., comments, captions, login credentials, replies, etc.
As far as the screen recorder is concerned, it gives you access to everything they are consuming and coming across on all social media platforms i.e., reels, stories, dating profiles, etc. Lastly, the media file tracker saves all the photos, videos, and other media files they share with friends and strangers online on Xnspy’s user dashboard.
Alongside the real-time logs retrieved from these features, you can see their installed apps and can also manage their screen time. Furthermore, you can use the screen time analysis to assess which apps are used and frequented the most. Based on these insights, you can then block particular apps remotely or completely lock their phone using Xnspy’s remote controls.
Replace Online Activities With Physical Ones
If an individual decreases their screen time by 30 minutes and replaces it with physical activities then, their mental health will improve. If you as a parent are hell-bent on taking your child off social media, you must offer them something in return too. You cannot expect your teenager to abandon their online community and replace it with an empty real life.
Instead, make sure you slowly transition them from online activities to physical ones. These activities should revolve around real-life interactions, a positive outlook on life, and the active involvement of all participants. When deciding the activities though, keep your child’s interests in mind and design them accordingly.
Encourage Social Media Breaks
When talking your child into taking a social media break, it is best to lead by example. When you practice these breaks, your child will better understand their importance and will want to follow in your steps.
As discussed above, it is also significant that you plan various activities with them, take them outside, invest in other hobbies, give them rewards, and offer other alternatives. With distractions and better things to do, they will not feel like they are missing out and will be less likely to experience FoMo. Moreover, during social interactions, they will have more valuable experiences to talk about and will feel accomplished.
Set Ground Rules for Usage
Today, teens spend an average of 7 hours and 22 minutes in front of screens every day. This unreasonable screen time is primarily caused by a lack of supervision and time restrictions. Therefore, teens spend much more time on social media than they should which eventually leads to addiction.
As a parent, it is your responsibility to set ground rules as soon as your child starts using social media and gets their own phone. These rules should define their daily screen time, what apps they can use, who they cannot interact with, and much more. The recommended amount of screen time for teens and tweens ranges from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Wrapping Up
All the methods given above are proven and can help you protect your child during these trying times. However, you need to remember that even if you are the one who has to decide the measures and take action, your child should know about it and you must properly communicate with them throughout the process. If you are not open with your child and fail to listen to their input actively then they can easily rebel, rendering all your efforts useless.
Therefore, you have to proceed with caution and make sure your child is in on all your plans, especially if you wish to employ a parental app for monitoring social media. Not only that, through it all your open-mindedness and active listening can also play a very crucial role since it can encourage them to talk to you about other matters like cyberbullying, harassment, etc.
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