Since the beginning of the year, three Quebec studies have shown the extent to which screens – and social media in particular – are having a harmful impact on young people. These platforms can be “extremely dangerous,” says one researcher, who is sounding the alarm and calling for better surveillance.
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Patricia Conrod is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Addiction at the University of Montreal and a researcher at CHU Sainte-Justine.
According to its latest study, published in January, social networks are partly to blame for the increase in mental health problems affecting young people.
His research, collected over a five-year period from 3,800 Montreal teenagers, shows that increased social media use among young people is directly linked to lower self-esteem and increased symptoms associated with eating disorders, a very tangible finding in further studies Schools (see other text below).
Photo from the CHU Sainte-Justine research center website
Patricia Conrod
researcher
“Young people go through a mental crisis, they report anxiety disorders, depression and suicidal thoughts in extremely high proportions. We can attribute at least part of this crisis to social networks that are not monitored at all,” says Ms. Conrod.
These negative mental health effects occur at a crucial stage in young people’s development, the researcher adds.
In the United States, there is even an increase in suicide rates among teenage girls. “It’s the reality, it’s not just young people who report experiencing more suffering,” she says.
TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat have a bigger impact on teens than TV or video games because the content on them is shared by friends, making it more realistic for them, Ms Conrod adds.
“These young people are potentially exposed to an extremely distorted reality, which puts them at risk of concluding that their lives and physical appearance are worse than anything they see on social media,” she explains.
“Tip of the iceberg”
And that is just the beginning. The harmful effects of these platforms on youth go beyond what has been documented so far, the expert adds.
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg. We have not yet started to measure the impact of exposure to fake news and biased content and how this exposure affects young people’s understanding of the world around them.”
With the development of artificial intelligence, which makes it possible to produce content on social networks without being able to really tell the truth from the false, it becomes “extremely dangerous to interact with these platforms three hours a day,” affirms Patricia Conrod.
A better frame
For this reason, there is an urgent need to “rethink the way young people interact with the content of these platforms”, affirms this expert, drawing inspiration from recent initiatives in the United States, where a bipartisan bill is being introduced in the Senate was created to protect minors on social networks.
“We need to force platforms to better control the content presented by building more effective barriers,” says Patricia Conrod.
The rules of the game also need to be more explicit so that people can make informed decisions “after understanding how this content can affect them,” she says.
“We know young people don’t like the idea of being manipulated. We need to put them in control of how they interact with this content by giving them information about the potential influence these platforms have on the way they think.
TWO MORE QUEBEC STUDIES ON THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF DISPLAYS
Since the beginning of the year, two other Quebec studies have documented the harmful effects of screens on young people.
In February, another by Dr. Mélissa Généreux of the University of Sherbrooke found that young Quebecers who spend at least four hours a day on social media report experiencing twice as many symptoms of anxiety or depression as those who spend less than two hours a day on it.
Professor Caroline Fitzpatrick, also at the University of Sherbrooke, has documented the negative effects of screens on younger children. According to a recently published study, every hour spent in front of a screen at age 3.5 increases manifestations of anger and frustration at age 4.5.
A secondary school acts
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
Karine Latulippe is a special education teacher at Samuel-De Champlain High School in Beauport.
The impact of social networking on teen self-esteem is felt daily in secondary schools. In Quebec, a worker decided to turn it into a hobby.
Karine Latulippe is a specialist educator for lower secondary students at Samuel De Champlain School, Beauport.
Like colleagues at other schools, she observes problematic behavior among younger and younger students.
Young girls abstain from food in order not to gain weight. Teens consume to be cool. Teenage girls have sex early, sometimes as early as 12, with more than one partner.
For Ms. Latulippe, it’s the lack of confidence and self-esteem that’s at stake, especially as teenagers spend long hours with their noses to their screens on social media.
“I think it really affects their self-esteem and the decisions they make. Young people are always up for it,” she interjects.
“Unreachable” models
“As a teenager, it’s normal to compare yourself to others to define yourself. But now young people are comparing themselves to models who are unattainable,” she laments, largely because of the many filters applied to the photos circulating on Instagram.
In order to sensitize as many young people as possible to these issues, Ms. Latulippe set up a committee of students earlier this year, with which she organizes various activities throughout the school year.
A whole week in April will be dedicated to building self-esteem.
Conferences are offered to all students of all levels, especially related to the impact of social networks.
“We want to make the students want to love themselves the way they are so that they respect themselves more,” says the speaker.
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