With social media occupying a bigger and bigger role in our lives, health experts are increasingly concerned about the role it has on adolescent mental health.
“In the span of a generation, social media has really dramatically changed the landscape of adolescents’ development around the clock,” Eva Telzer, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at UNC-Chapel Hill, told members of a North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force committee earlier this month.
She told committee members that several decades ago adolescents were interacting with each other in person. Now adolescent social relationships are occurring largely behind a screen.
“Their posts are relatively permanent and public. Anybody can see them. They have this digital stress to be available around the clock,” explained Telzer.