Teen Social Media Use Can Cause Mental Health, Sleep Issues: Illinois Expert

CHICAGO AREA, IL — With school starting soon, a local counselor has a message for local parents, who have children who may be dealing with issues of depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation and attention and memory problems.

For the patients Allison Kranich sees, 50 percent are teens, and about half of the adults who come in will talk to her about concerns they have regarding their children. Kranich, a licensed clinical professional counselor at Northwestern Medicine in the McHenry County area, said there’s been a resounding and alarming trend in one major factor that is causing problems for children, ages 13 to 17 years old — and mainly for girls.

“It won’t be a presenting concern. They will come in because they are concerned about their child’s anxiety, depression, ADHD and suicidal thoughts,” Kranich said. “But more often than not, social media comes up as the trigger.”

In May 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General released a warning on the impact of social media for teens. According to the report, 95 percent of children ages 13 to 17 years old report using social media, with 33 percent of them using it “almost constantly.”

The average teen checks their phone more than 80 times a day, and on a typical weekend, one in three teens report using screens until midnight or later.

All of this has led to a “hot mess” of issues when it comes to young and developing brains, Kranich said.

This generation of teens is among the first to have grown up with phones and social media. In 2011 and 2012 — a time when 50 percent of the U.S. first reported having a smartphone — today's teens were between the ages of 2 and 7 years old, Kranich said.

"They have grown up with them, most of them have them. It kind of beocmes a part of them. They need them right next them. They get mad when their parents take it away," Kranich said. "It’s almost like another limb for them. It’s changed how they think about themselves and how they socialize."

This age range also went through a pandemic when being online and social media use skyrocketed.

"This is the very first generation to have grown up almost entirely with social media or phones and then you add in the pandemic and we are not entirely sure how that will impact them...people are just on their phones much more," she said.

It’s unclear, at this point, what this all could mean for this generation when they reach adulthood, but social media experts and psychologists know overuse of Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and other social media applications is directly related to an increase in suicidal thoughts, impulse control, feelings of loneliness and much more, Kranich said.

Kranich, a 39-year-old mother of a 5-year-old girl, said it does present a host of issues that did not exist for her — and other parents of children and teens growing up — and that need to be navigated and monitored.

“We cannot assume they will be responsible users. It’s hard to just put down the phone and we need to teach them,” she said. “We need to really explain to them that it is so important to see people face to face. And when they are physically together, and they are scrolling through their phone, that’s not helping. It’s really important for your brain to connect and to do these things.”

In particular, it's extremely hard to get a teen — and adults as well — to keep their phones out of their bedrooms at night. Many teens are on their phones until midnight later, and struggling with sleep deprivation and sleep issues, which leads to more psychological and school problems, Kranich said.

In a perfect world, all would stop social media and phone use two hours before bed time, but Kranich suggests aiming for 30 minutes before bed time. And working to keep all phones out of the bedroom at night.

"I tell parents and children to put all the phones in one place for night time," she said. "You have to lock it down — most teens and most adults are not able to regulate that use."

As children get back to school, parents taking an active role in marking sure their teens are getting enough sleep is crucial.

"I think a big part of that is parents are not regulating their use. You have to do that because teens are not going to to do it themselves," Kranich said. "If we can get someone to get better sleep, we will see depression and anxiety get better. They are in a better frame of mind, and that will help them deal with problem solving."

Regulating the amount of time a child is using social media, and making sure to keep that threshold under two hours at time, is also important, she said. Statistics show psychological issues, including having more suicidal thoughts, increase when a teen is using social media more than two hours at a time.

When it goes above three hours, more problems arise, Kranich said.

"It really becomes about moderation," she said. "When we think about eating sugar, we know that we need to consume it in moderation. And children today are just eating truckloads of sugar when it comes to their social media use."

Modeling good habits, which include not allowing phones at the dinner table and parents carefully monitoring their social media and phone use, is also important.

While Kranich say she works with plenty of parents regarding their overuse of screens and social media, she says most grew up without and learned how to socialize without.

"I see adults having similar issues but I think the difference is as adults we already learned how to have relationships. We learned all those things without social media. So we learned that skillset at a time when our brains were developing. Teens don’t and that makes a big difference."

Teens today are also spending much more time alone.

"They do not feel connected to people. Social media is not bringing people together as we thought it could or should. It doesn't teach people healthy relationships," Kranich said.

"That's one thing that has stood out to me ... the number of teens reporting loneliness."

Bullying, especially for girls, is also prevalent on social media. Comparing AI and filtered photos to their own reflection is also a huge issue, Kranich said.

"Girls at this age are really mean to each other and social media has made this way worse," Kranich said. "I can't imagine being a teenage girl and seeing all these pictures and what people are doing. I think of TikTok and AI and seeing all these fake photoshopped images."

"I had a girl I was seeing who saw a TikTok and decided she needs to be working out more and kind of saw that as reality. This is not real," she added.

On the flip side, the images boys are seeing — as well as pornographic images and videos being more prevalent — has caused false realities about sexuality and relationships that adds to the problems.

Kranich suggests parents allow social media use on a family computer, and not allow use on personal cell phones, as a way to curb some of this. She also suggests looking at social media together, and monitoring children's use.

Kranich says her and her husband are working to cut down on their social media use and rarely allow their 5-year-old daughter to use her iPad. They've started to talk to her about when and where she can take pictures, and only allow her to take photos while with her daily.

She urges parents to also start early in setting up healthy social media habits for their young children and families.

"A big part of our struggle, for my husband and I, is getting off our phones ourselves," Kranich said "We are much more tied to them as well than we care to admit."

With school starting soon, Northwestern Medicine shared several more tips that families can follow to help promote healthy relationships with technology and social media as well as protecting teenagers against depression, anxiety, and other health concerns:

Put off giving children phones for as long as possible:

• Consider a flip phone with limited functions
• Sign them up for social media, but from your computer

Set limits prior to giving teens phones

• Teach teens to be responsible users
• Set expectations about honesty and looking though the phone together
• Install apps or programs to limit use
• Reduce or eliminate notifications
• Prohibit use behind closed doors
• Discuss phone use and driving
• Consider a family media plan (American Academy of Pediatrics has one available at no charge)

Do not sleep with phones

• Hearing alerts throughout the night disrupts sleep
• Eliminate the temptation to look at screens when struggling to sleep

Be aware of risks and benefits of different social media platforms

• Use apps that allow brief and individual posts instead of platforms with permanent, group posts
• Consider apps using video/live interaction

Be present

• Discuss what being present means and how phones interfere, especially in healthy relationships
• Teach teens to enjoy social interactions, events, and gatherings without always reaching for their phones

Explore the social media world together

• Teach teens how to navigate apps and websites
• Discuss privacy and how to protect themselves
• Teach social media literacy
  • Using critical thinking skills to evaluate the accuracy of information
  • How to manage conflicts via social media
  • Reducing comparisons to others
• Encourage teens to come to you if there are questions about content

Talk openly about posting and taking pictures

• Talk honestly, talk early
• Discuss how to respond if someone asks them for inappropriate pictures
• Limit exposure to graphic content

Model desired behaviors

• At all times. They are watching.

Get off the couch

• Exercise is a natural antidepressant
• Play together
• Try experimenting with increased in-person interactions or exercise
  • For one week (or even a few days) cut electronic device/social media use in half and replace that with in-person interaction or exercise. Reassess how you feel.

Assess if your teen is overusing social media:

• Is my teen sleeping well and getting daily exercise?
• Are they socializing with friends and family?
• Do they spend time on hobbies and school work?

This is a developing story. Check back to Crystal Lake-Cary Patch later today — and sign up for our newsletters — to make sure you get our full story.