Do you find that your teen is constantly on their phone? Do they have a hard time refraining from using social media? If so, your teenager may benefit from a social media detox.
Many people, particularly young people, enjoy staying connected on social media 24/7.
Unfortunately, social media can ignite:
Fear of missing out (FOMO)
Anxiety
Depression
Isolation
Anchor Therapy is a counseling center in Hoboken, NJ with psychotherapists specialized in helping children, teens, adults, and couples with anxiety, depression, relationship issues, trauma, and life transitions. Anchor Therapy is accepting new clients and is now providing in-person sessions and telehealth (video/phone) sessions to residents of New Jersey and New York.
Inherently, humans are social beings. To grow, we need to have connections with others. The strength of our companionships greatly affects our self-worth, mental health, and happiness.
When your teen is socially connected to other people, they can experience:
A boost in their self-worth
The prevention of loneliness
A decrease in anxiety
A decrease in depression
A decrease in stress
Comfort
Happiness
Extra years added to their life
On the other hand, when your teenager is missing strong social connections, their mental and emotional health can be in jeopardy. Therefore, it becomes easy for teens to rely on social media. Several social media platforms, like Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, and Snapchat, are easy means to connect with other people.
Some benefits of using social media:
It provides an outlet for creativity
It can be a platform for knowledge and learning
It is a way to communicate with friends and family who may live far away
You can find new groups and organizations
It is a form of emotional support during difficult times
While social media has some undeniable benefits, it is important to remember that it cannot replace in-person connections. A technology that was created to ease loneliness has inadvertently worsened mental health problems.
Social media is a generally new technology, so the long-term ramifications of regularly using it are unknown.
So far, we know that social media can create negative experiences, such as:
FOMO - FOMO has existed far before social media, but social media has intensified the issue. It is easy for your teen to feel like other people are having more fun or living better lives than them; however, as we know, social media does not always portray the truth. The concept of missing out on social experiences can cause an increase in anxiety, a decrease in the perception of your teen’s self-worth, and make your teen want to be on social media even more.
Anxiety and Depression - Eye-to-eye contact with people in real life can reduce your teen’s stress and boost their mood. When your teen is constantly prioritizing social media over in-person interactions, they risk developing anxiety and depression.
Isolation - A high utilization of social media platforms can increase feelings of loneliness. If your teen reduces their usage of social media, they can feel less lonely which positively contributes to their welfare.
Feelings of Inadequacy - Even if your teen knows that the images they are seeing have undergone photoshop and heavy filtering, they can still feel insecure about themselves and the occurrences in their life. While social media is just a highlight reel, your teen can forget this. Additionally, even if your teenager is actively aware of this fact, they can still feel discontented and jealous when seeing someone get accepted to their dream college or another person on their tropical vacation.
If your teen is spending an unreasonable amount of time on social media and you notice that they seem lonely, upset, discontented, and defeated, a social media detox can allow them to re-evaluate their online behavior and create a healthy balance between their virtual and in-person connections.
There are many ways that your teen may detox from social media, from slowly cutting back on screen time to going cold turkey. It may be smart to have your teen detox from social media for a week and then create a healthy schedule for them to re-enter the social media sphere.
A typical social media detox consists of zero screen time for a week. While your teen may use their phone to text friends and call family, they cannot use their phone to scroll mindlessly on social media for hours on end. In other words, your teen will be completely removing social media use and consumption.
There are two means to do this:
First, you could simply delete social media apps off of your child’s phone. While your kid cannot see the app on their home screen anymore, their accounts will still be activated. Therefore, when their social media detox concludes, they can easily re-enter their platforms.
The second method may be viewed as more extreme by your teen. You can temporarily disable their social media accounts. It is generally easy to re-activate social media accounts after disabling them; however, this method requires extra work for a short detox window.
Before deleting your kid’s social media apps or disabling their accounts, it is beneficial to plan what your child will do during their detox. This way, your child’s time will be filled up with exciting activities that will take their mind off of social media. It may be surprising how much time there is left to fill due to deleting social media.
While you can replace their social media habits with other technology, it is typically not recommended. Instead, your child can take part in an engaging activity that leaves the screen behind.
For instance, your teen can:
Spend time with friends and family
Read
Study
Play outside
Exercise
Learn a new hobby
While your teen is detoxing from social media, they may notice that they:
Have more free time
Feel less anxious
Have enhanced mindfulness
Experience better, more structured days
After your teen completes their one week without social media, it is time for them to re-access their accounts if you and they both feel like it is the correct choice. Since your teen has detoxed, they may find it easier to create healthy boundaries for their virtual world.
Now, your teen can begin to retire their phone at a specific time each night. Not only can using a technological device before bed impact your sleep due to the blue light, but it can also negatively impact your mental health. They should retire their device at least one hour before they go to bed. Then, the hour before bed can be used as an opportunity to unwind or get some extra sleep.
Another practice that your teen can try is to break the habit of constantly checking their phone. If your teen is always reaching for their device, it may be a sign that they have developed a dependency on it. This is often rooted in anxiety that your teen will miss out on something new and exciting. While breaking this habit is difficult, you can slowly work towards this goal. For instance, while your teen is completing their homework, you can have them place their phone in a different room. You can even work your way up to turning off their phone’s social media notifications, so they are not tempted to reach for their device every time they hear a bing.
Most likely, your teen is going to continue their social media use and there is nothing wrong with that. It is all about finding the right balance that works for your child. One thing that you can teach your teenager is to be mindful of the content that they are consuming. If you notice that your teen is following accounts that make them feel bad, you may want to suggest that they unfollow that person and begin to follow accounts that inspire them. By making this change, your kid will feel better after spending some time scrolling.
Lastly, it may be beneficial to have your child speak to an adolescent specialized therapist if you feel that social media is having a serious impact on their mental health. Adolescent counseling can work with you to achieve your family’s goals so your child can live a healthy and fulfilling life.
Victoria Scala
is the Social Media Manager at Anchor Therapy in Hoboken, New Jersey. She is currently an undergraduate student at the Honors College of Rutgers University-Newark, looking to study Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the graduate level. As a Social Media Manager at Anchor Therapy, Victoria is committed to producing content for and managing the office’s social media presence and blog.
