What makes young people reduce their social media use

Just when parents thought nothing could convince young people to reduce their social media use, here’s an idea that could work.

Teenagers and young adults who saw warnings that social media could harm their health said they were discouraged from using social media and more informed of the potential consequences, according to a study published earlier this month in the medical journal JAMA Health Forum.

In the national study, 13- to 17-year-olds and 18- to 29-year-olds were shown messages about how social media has not been proven safe and can cause addiction, negative body image, sleep disruption, depression, anxiety and overall mental health harms. Participants in both age groups said all the messages used in the research were effective.

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Warnings about overall mental health and depression and anxiety were most persuasive, said senior study author Dr. Thomas Robinson, Irving Schulman, MD Endowed Professor in Child Health and professor of pediatrics and medicine at Stanford University. Participants also saw messages about voluntarily taking social media breaks, which were less effective, he said.

A limitation of the study is that it asked participants to anticipate their behavior rather than measuring what they did, Robinson said. However, the questions in this research have been asked in other studies, he added, and they have been reliable predictors of behavior.

The findings are the first time a study has measured the effects of social media warnings, Robinson said. Since they seem to be persuasive, parents who are concerned about how social media might affect their children could consider asking elected officials for legislation and regulation that could include these types of warnings, he said.

The responsibility for handling the potential harms of social media use shouldn’t just fall on parents and kids, Robinson pointed out.

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The study comes on the heels of Meta’s landmark agreement in August to pay $18 billion to settle multistate claims that it designed its platforms to addict kids and harm their mental health. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram did not admit wrongdoing and said ensuring teen safety is a priority.

The settlement is a “watershed moment, because for the first time, I think there’s some momentum that’s built behind trying to push for broader regulation and legislation,” Robinson said.

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Still, warnings alone are unlikely to make young people use social media less.

If “a warning pops up, and you’ve never seen it before, it will stop and make you think,” said Dr. Melissa Greenberg, a clinical psychologist and founder of Princeton Psychotherapy Center in New Jersey, who was not involved with the new study. Eventually, however, the novelty will wear off. “People stop seeing the things that are always there,” Greenberg said.

Also, social media affects kids differently, so they need different types of warnings, she said. Your teen might need a talk specifically about body image or violence seen online.

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That’s why, if you choose to let your kids use social media, it’s good to maintain an ongoing conversation with them, she said.

These discussions should start at a younger age than you might think, Greenberg said — probably around 7 or 8 years old. “Kids are usually a step ahead of the adults in these things,” she said.

Start by asking your children if they’ve heard of social media, Greenberg said. If so, it’s time to have the talk.

Even if you don’t talk about it at home, kids might learn about social media at friends’ homes, be exposed to games they can check out at the library or be told at an extracurricular activity that their photos are being posted on social media.

If your kid does use social media, check in regularly about how it’s going. Often conversations focus on how much time children are on screens and parents forget to ask about the content they’re seeing, Greenberg said.

Ask your kid questions such as “What are you doing? What’s appealing about it? What do you like? Is there anything that you find distressing?” Greenberg suggested.

Keep in mind that kids may not have the language to tell you how it’s really affecting them, she said. They might not realize that chasing likes on social media posts is giving them anxiety or making them feel irritable because they think no one likes them. That’s why it’s important to follow up.

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Remember the book and movie “Thank You for Smoking,” in which the main character, who represents Big Tobacco, wants to tell kids their parents don’t want them to smoke because he thinks it will make them want to smoke more? I asked Greenberg whether there’s a risk that if parents discuss the kinds of warnings in this study with their offspring it could cause kids to want to rebel by using social media.

She hasn’t seen this happen in her practice, she said. I have also never heard of it happening from any talks I’ve given to parents across the country about how to handle their kids’ social media use.

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This skill can protect kids from the harms of social media

Young people who get addicted to social media get sucked in and lose track of time, Greenberg said, similar to adults. Children probably don’t see it as a way of acting out against their parents because their parents use it, too, she added.

Now that we know warnings can be effective, I recommend talking to your kids about the potential harms of using social media — and talking to elected officials, too. A lot of us would appreciate help managing the effects of social media on our kids.

Kara Alaimo is a professor of communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University and advises parents, students and teachers on how to manage screen time. Her book “Over the Influence: Why Social Media Is Toxic for Women and Girls — And How We Can Take It Back” was published in 2024.

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正当家长们认为没有什么能说服年轻人减少使用社交媒体时，这里有一个可能奏效的办法。

根据本月早些时候发表在医学期刊《JAMA Health Forum》上的一项研究，看到社交媒体可能损害健康的警告的青少年和年轻人表示，他们不再鼓励使用社交媒体，并且对潜在的后果有了更深入的了解。

在这项全国性研究中，研究人员向13至17岁和18至29岁的青少年展示了有关社交媒体安全性尚未得到证实，且可能导致成瘾、负面身体形象、睡眠紊乱、抑郁、焦虑以及其他心理健康损害的信息。两个年龄组的参与者均表示，研究中使用的所有信息都有效。

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该研究的资深作者、斯坦福大学儿科和内科教授、欧文·舒尔曼医学博士儿童健康特聘教授托马斯·罗宾逊博士表示，有关整体心理健康、抑郁和焦虑的警告最具说服力。他还指出，参与者也看到了关于自愿暂停使用社交媒体的信息，但这些信息的效果较差。

罗宾逊指出，这项研究的局限性在于它要求参与者预测自己的行为，而不是测量他们实际的行为。但他补充说，这项研究中的问题在其他研究中也曾被提出，而且这些问题已被证明能够可靠地预测行为。

罗宾逊表示，这项研究首次对社交媒体警告的效果进行了评估。他指出，由于这些警告似乎颇具说服力，担心社交媒体可能对孩子产生不良影响的家长可以考虑向民选官员请教，要求制定相关法律法规，将此类警告纳入其中。

罗宾逊指出，处理社交媒体使用可能造成的危害的责任不应该仅仅落在父母和孩子身上。

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美国卫生局局长发布新建议，对儿童和青少年屏幕时间风险发出警告

这项研究紧随Meta公司8月份达成的一项里程碑式协议之后。Meta公司同意支付180亿美元，以了结多州对其平台设计的指控，这些指控称其平台旨在让青少年上瘾并损害他们的心理健康。这家Facebook和Instagram的母公司并未承认存在不当行为，并表示确保青少年安全是其首要任务。

罗宾逊说：“这项和解协议是一个具有里程碑意义的时刻，因为我认为这是第一次在推动更广泛的监管和立法方面积累了一些势头。”

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然而，单靠警告不太可能让年轻人减少使用社交媒体。

“如果突然弹出一个你从未见过的警告，它会停下来让你思考，”新泽西州普林斯顿心理治疗中心创始人、临床心理学家梅丽莎·格林伯格博士说道，她并未参与这项新研究。然而，新鲜感最终会消退。“人们会逐渐忽略那些一直存在的东西，”格林伯格说。

她还说，社交媒体对孩子的影响各不相同，因此他们需要不同类型的警告。你的孩子可能需要专门和你谈谈关于身材形象或网络上暴力内容的问题。

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社交媒体并不能巩固你的友谊。什么才是真正有效的？

所以，如果你选择让孩子使用社交媒体，最好与他们保持持续的沟通，她说。

格林伯格说，这些讨论应该比你想象的更早开始——大概在7、8岁左右。“孩子们在这些事情上通常比成年人更胜一筹，”她说。

格林伯格说，首先要问问你的孩子是否听说过社交媒体。如果他们听说过，那就该和他们谈谈这个话题了。

即使你不在家谈论它，孩子们也可能在朋友家了解社交媒体，在图书馆接触到他们可以借阅的游戏，或者在课外活动中被告知他们的照片正在被发布到社交媒体上。

如果你的孩子使用社交媒体，要定期了解他们的使用情况。格林伯格说，家长们常常只关注孩子花在屏幕上的时间，却忽略了询问他们正在浏览的内容。

格林伯格建议，可以问问孩子一些问题，例如“你在做什么？它吸引你的地方是什么？你喜欢什么？有没有什么让你感到难过的事情？”

她提醒道，要记住孩子们可能没有足够的语言能力来告诉你这件事对他们的真实影响。他们可能意识不到，在社交媒体上追逐点赞会让他们感到焦虑或烦躁，因为他们觉得没有人喜欢他们。所以，后续跟进非常重要。

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还记得那本小说和电影《感谢你抽烟》吗？书中代表大型烟草公司的主角想告诉孩子们，他们的父母不希望他们抽烟，因为他认为这样反而会让他们更想抽烟。我问格林伯格，如果父母和孩子讨论这项研究中提到的这类警告，是否会有导致孩子利用社交媒体进行反叛的风险。

她说，她在行医过程中从未见过这种情况。我也从未听说过，在我面向全国各地家长讲解如何引导孩子使用社交媒体的过程中，也从未有人提及过这种情况。

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这项技能可以保护孩子免受社交媒体的危害。

格林伯格说，年轻人沉迷于社交媒体会像成年人一样，不知不觉地沉迷其中，忘记时间。她补充说，孩子们可能并不认为这是在反抗父母，因为他们的父母也在使用社交媒体。

既然我们知道警告有效，我建议您和孩子谈谈使用社交媒体可能带来的危害，也建议您和民选官员谈谈。我们很多人都希望得到帮助，以应对社交媒体对孩子的影响。

卡拉·阿拉伊莫是费尔利·狄金森大学的传播学教授，她为家长、学生和教师提供关于如何管理屏幕时间的建议。她的著作《过度影响：为什么社交媒体对女性和女孩有害——以及我们如何才能夺回控制权》于2024年出版。

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