Social Media and Small Screens are Negatively Impacting Youth

In 1841, Charles Mackay wrote in Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds:

“Every age has its particular folly; some scheme, project, or phantasy into which it plunges, spurred on either by the love of gain, the necessity of excitement, or the mere force of imitation.”

Mackay’s words are relevant today. We are witnessing a dramatic change starting in the last decade with the arrival of smartphones accompanied by social media applications. Whether TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or other types of social media platforms, young people have become addicted. Jonathan Haidt in his book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, was a guest on Bill Maher’s Realtime last Friday. Haidt described how childhood changed between 2010 and 2015 pointing to increased levels of self-harm and suicide. He linked this rise to smartphones and high-speed Internet connectivity noting that smartphones were isolating young people rather than encouraging them to play.

All young mammals play. Whether puppies, kittens, cubs, baby whales, you name it, play is an important stage in mammalian development. Smartphones and small screens, however, have physically changed how children play and interact. More today happens with children staring at digital displays where they type, tap and react to what is seen.

Ubiquitous access to the Internet and parenting changes represent a dangerous confluence threatening the well-being of young people is the conclusion of another important publication entitled Social Media and Adolescent Health, edited by Sandro Galea, physician, epidemiologist, and a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health, Gillian J. Buckley, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Alexis Wojtowicz, a Bloomberg Fellow and Research Associate at the National Academies of Sciences (NAS).

This NAS publication first defined what was meant by social media, writing:

“Social media refers to interactive technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. Social media can therefore include social networking, gaming, virtual worlds, video sharing sites, and blogs.”

It reviewed published literature on both smartphone technologies and social media looking at the claims being made of a causal link between the two related to young people’s mental health. It noted the transformation of the world over the last 15 years because of the emergence of smartphones and other handheld devices. It described the “breakneck pace” of information, news and entertainment bombarding eyes fixed on small screens.

It also described how social media works noting features designed to keep users engaged for as long as possible. A feature called affordances is common to all social media platforms. Affordances are algorithms that generate content in response to user requests. Affordances determine the ranking of displayed content, targeted advertising, content moderation, and continuous engagement. Capturing a user’s attention and keeping it to monetize the result is the ultimate end goal.

Social media algorithms also can influence health in the way content is presented with more provocative and sensational posts ranked higher based on the viewing history of the user. This creates distortions and gives rise “to recursive feedback loops.” The result is harmful content, misinformation, fringe views, and conspiracy theories shaping user perceptions.

Sharing on social media furthers its persuasive influence. Likes, badges, points and other features manipulate users and draw them back repeatedly to the platforms. This is harmful to young people and adult frequenters of social media. But for adolescents, it can become deadly affecting their emotions, judgment, and interaction with peers. Disengagement becomes harder fed by manipulative algorithms.

Although social media platforms include usage and consent contracts, most users never read the fine print. They don’t realize that every click and like is collected to shape the messaging that social media ends up sending back to the smartphone and tablet screens being viewed. There is little in the way to ensure viewed content is age-appropriate just as there is no way to ensure new users are not underage when downloading social media apps.

The NAS publication, despite the above, takes a nuanced response to the claim that Haidt makes in his book. Has the social media revolution and the arrival of smartphones been harmful or helpful? NAS concludes both by making two very different observations.

The first states, “Some features of social media function can harm … young people’s mental health. These include, but are not limited to, algorithmically driven distortions of reality exacerbating harmful content and disinformation, the distraction away from time that can otherwise be used in more healthy ways, and the creation of opportunities where youth can be abused or exploited.”

The second points to social media as a means to “improve the lives of youth, including the creation of opportunities for community among more marginalized youth, and the opportunity for fun and joy for the vast majority of users.” 

To reconcile the evil and good of smartphones and the proliferation of social media, the NAS publication recommended:

• Development of industry standards to ensure social media is used responsibly by young people.
• Educators and healthcare providers work with social media developers to protect young people from online abuse.
• Further research to better understand the causal links between social media and mental health.

When the Internet and the Worldwide Web emerged in the early 1990s, I was an earnest advocate. I saw it as a way for global knowledge sharing.

When social media arrived in the first decade of the 21st century, I thought this would break down social, political and ideological barriers, and be a positive force for change in the world.

Today, I realize my naïveté in drawing both conclusions. I see the NAS publication as continuing to reflect a similar naïveté. Haidt’s conclusions persuade me. The addictive properties of social media and smartphone use in young people will only worsen outcomes if we as parents, educators, publishers, and software developers don’t address it and find solutions.