The U.S. Surgeon General is raising the alarm about social media’s negative effect on kids with a recent advisory that warns of the risks social networking sites can pose.
Among other things, the advisory notes social media can perpetuate body dissatisfaction, disordered eating behaviors, social comparison, and low self-esteem.
Dr. Leah Orchinik is a Pediatric Psychologist at Nemours Children’s Health and she believes kids already struggling with anxiety and depression are most vulnerable to these negative effects
But Orchinik adds all kids can be affected by social media.
"For all kids at that age, though brains are developing, kids are comparing themselves to each other anyway, and so when there's content available and targeting kids in such a negative way it can become really dangerous. Especially knowing that the algorithms can then perpetuate what they might have looked at or clicked or liked, and then it kind of feeds into what they might be seeing and then kind of becomes this really, really negative feedback cycle," said Orchinik.
She says signs that social media is becoming a problem include its use getting in the way of daily life, hiding social media use, and continued use when they want to stop or always feel the need to check something.
Orchinik suggests there is a way parents can help their children.
"Creating a family media plan in which everyone's going to follow the rules of: We don't do phones at dinner time, when you're doing homework, we are tech-free, things like that to make sure that it's not interfering with overall functioning for everybody. I think parents can model that," said Orchinik.
Orchinik adds parents should talk to their kids to help them be savvy users while warning them how companies sometimes use algorithms in ways that are not in their best interest.