Keeping teens safe on social media, with Linda Charmaraman, PhD

Speaking of Psychology

Kim Mills

Health & Fitness, Life Sciences, Science, Mental Health

4.3 • 781 Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2021

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The vast majority of U.S. teens have access to a smartphone and at least one social media account, and recent headlines seem to confirm parents’ worst fears about the effects of all that time spent online. But psychologists’ research suggests that there are nuanced answers to the question of how social media affects teens’ mental health and well-being. Linda Charmaraman, PhD, director of the Youth, Media and Wellbeing Research Lab at the Wellesley Centers for Women, discusses how teens use social media today, its impact on their mental health, and what parents, educators and others can do to maximize its benefits and minimize its potential harms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	In September, documents leaked to the media by a former Facebook employee revealed that the company's
0:06.9	internal research had found that its apps could be harmful for teens, particularly for teenage
0:12.0	girls' mental health.
0:13.6	The headlines about toxic social media seem to confirm parents' worst fears about the effects
0:19.0	of all the time that kids are spending online.
0:22.0	Recent surveys have found that 95% of U.S. teens have a smartphone or access to one,
0:27.8	and more than 80% have at least one social media account on Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok,
0:33.6	Facebook, or other sites. But psychologist's research has suggested that there are nuanced answers to the questions surrounding how all this social media use is affecting teens' health and well-being.
0:44.3	For instance, is there such a thing as healthy social media use for teens? And if so, what does that look like? Does social media cause depression and anxiety?
0:55.0	Or, conversely, can it be a source of social and emotional support for kids?
0:59.0	Do teens understand how social media algorithms work and why they see the content that they do online?
1:06.0	Why does that matter?
1:08.0	And what can parents, educators, and others do to maximize the benefits and minimize the potential harms of social media?
1:14.6	Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association that examines the links between psychological science and everyday life.
1:25.6	I'm Kim Mills.
1:30.3	Our guest today is Dr. Linda Charmarmaran, a senior research scientist and director of the youth media and well-being research lab at the Wellesley Centers for Women.
1:40.3	She studies young people's social media use and is conducting a three-year National Institutes of Health-funded study to follow middle school students and their parents during this critical developmental period.
1:52.3	She's looking at how social technologies, including smartphones, social media, YouTube, and gaming affect kids' health and well-being in the longer term.
2:00.8	She's published dozens of journal articles and seven book chapters and has been widely quoted
2:05.4	in the media offering advice to parents, educators, policymakers, and others.
2:10.8	Thank you for joining us today.
2:13.1	Thank you so much for having me.
	...

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