July 15, 2024
The impact of digital experiences on teens with mental health vulnerabilities
Over the last decade, digital developments have led to major changes in the ways that teens learn, work, play and interact with others. Digital access is a daily reality for most children and young people. Nine in 10 children in the UK now own a smartphone by the time they reach the age of 11, and the large majority of children aged 11 now use social media (78%) and have a social media profile (72%), despite being younger than the minimum age requirement for many platforms. By the time teens are 17 years old, 97% will use social media.
Coincident with this change, adolescent mental health problems have also increased in prevalence. It is therefore no surprise that much research has focused on the relationship between digital experiences and adolescent mental health. However, comparatively few studies have directly compared the experiences of teens with mental health conditions meaning that some key questions remain unanswered. Do adolescents with pre‐existing mental health conditions differ in terms of why and how they engage with the digital world compared to peers without such difficulties? Are specific mental health conditions linked to different patterns of digital usage? What role do such differences play in the development and escalation of these conditions?
In a recent paper, our Researcher of the Month, Dr Kasia Kostyrka-Allchorne, and her colleagues, explore what the evidence shows about the digital experiences of teens with mental health vulnerabilities.
Summary
Dr Kostyrka-Allchorne’s systematic review of the existing evidence focuses on the digital experiences of young people with four specific ‘clinically significant’ mental health difficulties: anxiety, depression, eating problems and non-suicidal self‐harm.
In relation to teens’ mental health, the digital world has been described as a triple‐edged sword. Firstly, it provides great opportunities for growth and development. It facilitates connection, creativity and personal exploration – all of which are vitally important to young people, and which, via the digital world, they can access with minimal effort. However, these same characteristics of immediacy and ease of access can also potentially expose adolescents to inappropriate content and adverse experiences that may place them and their mental health at risk. The third edge of the sword refers to the potential of harnessing digital media for the identification and treatment of mental health problems, as it is increasingly being used to provide psychological support.
The review found that teens with mental health vulnerabilities engage with the digital environment in some specific ways, identifying several nuanced themes. Whilst some online behaviours appear to be largely universal throughout the teen population, others may be more common in young people with clinical levels of mental health problems. In line with the idea of a triple-edged sword, digital engagement can have both positive and negative outcomes for these young people.
The review found that teens often report going online to participate in niche communities or to seek peer-based or professional support. Teens emphasised the near‐instant nature of online support and the ability to easily reach a large group of peers, who provided acceptance, reassurance, a sense of shared experience, validation and belonging. However, by engaging with niche communities, their problems could also be triggered, encouraged or amplified – particularly through their normalisation on self-harm or pro-anorexia communities.
Using digital media was also found to help teens find temporary relief from their psychological difficulties, allowing them to unwind, reducing levels of stress and acting as a ‘digital retreat’. At the same time, using digital media as a means of escape was frequently found to be a maladaptive coping strategy, which could lead to difficulties in regulating use. Young people diagnosed with depression consistently reported higher levels of problematic use and greater difficulties in regulating their digital engagement than their nonclinical peers.
Adolescence is a period of development which is associated with seeking peer acceptance and belonging. It’s therefore unsurprising that young people in the study embrace the opportunities for communication, networking and boosting social popularity afforded by the digital world. Teens acknowledged that some of their digital practices were motivated by seeking approval or acceptance in the form of digital social feedback, such as ‘likes’, ‘hearts’, views, shares or follows. However, for young people with emotional difficulties, this was found to lead to two potential negative outcomes. Firstly, it might motivate engagement in risky or problematic online practices to gain positive social feedback or to appear popular. Secondly, viewing heavily filtered posts that are a poor reflection of mundane reality can evoke feelings of missing out, and lead to negative social comparisons that lower the mood of clinically vulnerable teens.
Implications
“Adolescents with clinical‐level mental health difficulties may be more vulnerable to digitally mediated harm compared with peers, who do not have mental health difficulties.”
Remember that the digital world can be very helpful. It allows young people to access support and can play a role in creating a sense of connection and in showing teens narratives of recovery.
Take a look at the Children’s Commissioner’s digital 5 a day. Based on the NHS’s evidence-based ‘‘five steps to better mental wellbeing’, the campaign gives children and parents easy to follow, practical steps to achieve a healthy and balanced digital diet.
Talk to young people about their online connections. Try to have open discussions about who they connect with and about their privacy settings. Let them know you are there to help them if they need you.
Build in time to switch off and get moving. Notice what other activities your teen enjoys and make sure these form part of their daily routine. Remember that young people can feel pressured by the constantly connected nature of the internet and may find it difficult to put down their phones when apps are encouraging them to engage. Encourage them to consider how their time online makes them feel. If they find it hard to manage their use, they might find it helpful to keep a diary of the amount of time they spend online.
Encourage creativity. Time online does not need to be spent scrolling passively and the digital world offers young people numerous opportunities to be creative and build vital skills.
Encourage children and teens to develop digital skills and agency. Give them tools to understand the importance of creating a digital footprint that can help, rather than hinder, them in the future.
Put children and young people at the forefront of your discussions around digital use. Give them a voice. Listen to their perspectives and hear their concerns. Ask what support they need rather than making assumptions.
Be a good role model. Consider how you engage with digital devices. Role modelling the actions that we want to see can help to promote positive behaviours in our children.
Give them the opportunity to explore some risks in a controlled way. Scaffold their experiences and be there to talk, but respect their growing agency.
Noticing signs of problematic use? Don’t panic. We want to be proactive about young people’s digital use and support them before any problems with usage arise. However, if you do notice that their use of digital media is getting in the way of enjoying everyday life, sleep or studies, then these are concerning signs. Try to approach your child about this in a gentle, curious and non-judgemental way. Don’t forget about seeking support for yourself if you need it.
Dr Kasia Kostyrka-Allchorne
Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Queen Mary University of London
Dr Kasia Kostyrka-Allchorne is a developmental psychologist and lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Queen Mary University of London. Broadly, she researches the risks and opportunities of growing up in a digital world. Her current research cuts across the disciplines of child and adolescent development, mental health, clinical interventions, and human-computer interactions. She works on large, cross-institutional research projects that come under two main strands.
The first strand focuses on gathering evidence of whether digital interventions can provide a solution to the growing problem of the lack of psychological support for parents, who may have a difficult time bringing up their children. Within this strand, Dr Kostyrka-Allchorne works with parents, clinicians, app developers and other researchers on developing and testing digital applications supporting parents both in the community as well as in the clinical services.
Second, she is involved in the work of the Digital Youth consortium and, specifically, the DIORA study, which investigates whether, why, and for whom digital engagement is a risk or protective factor for mental health. This strand of research aims to provide a comprehensive characterisation of the associations between adolescent digital activity and mental health and identify some of their underpinning mechanisms.
Dr Kasia Kostyrka-Allchorne
Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Queen Mary University of London
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