Use of social media has been linked to mental health issues, especially in adolescents.
Now, recent surveys, including one released March 19, 2024, reveal that attitudes toward social media are shifting with many teens and young adults choosing to un-plug and de-screen.
According to experts, this simple move can have a major positive impact on overall wellbeing.
A recent report found that for the first time ever, fewer Americans are using social media than they were a year prior.
15-year-old Lila Hewitt is one of them.
“Just because I felt like I was spending too much time on it and same with YouTube. I was spending too much time on it, and I would just start scrolling endlessly,” she said.
Hewitt became keenly aware of the impact that was having on her.
“Every time I would be on social media too long my mom calls it ‘mushy brain syndrome’ where you get like really irritated and upset because you just been scrolling,” she said.
Dr. Daniel Bober, Chief of Psychiatry at Memorial Regional Hospital says the mental health impact is well documented.
“When you look at the very definition of addiction, which is compulsive use despite negative consequences you realize that social media does share a lot of features with a true addiction,” he said.
Bober said 70 to 80 percent of kids who use social media report feeling “distressed” by it.
He said that makes efforts to help them “give it up” even more urgent.
“Most kids are spending on average more than three and a half hours a day on social media. A healthy number is probably around 30 minutes, but we also know that up to two thirds of parents are not using parental controls,” Bober said.
Rather than experiencing the ‘fear of missing out’, Hewitt said she’s enjoying quality time with her family and friends and motivated by the desire to try new things.
“I feel like you’ve got to find that motivation first, then, after that, everything is going to be easier,” she said.
A recent study found that 34 percent of gen-z social media users have quit one or more platforms entirely, while 64 percent have taken at least a temporary break.