The Impact of Screens on your Teen’s Mental Health

Written by: Joe Jardine

Disclaimer: there are books and books worth of information on this topic, and we plan on writing about this a lot more, so this blog post just gives us a starting point for an ongoing topic you’ll see on our platforms. We’re really passionate about this one.

It's no secret that screens are everywhere. We're constantly bombarded with images and messages from our phones, computers, TVs, and other devices. And while there's no doubt that screens can be beneficial in many ways, there's also growing evidence that they can have negative effects on our mental health, especially for teenagers.

We use screens to cope

Ever come home from a long and frustrating day and wanted to blow off some steam by playing some video games? Or maybe escape your life for a little while and binge watch your latest Netflix obsession? Or get caught up scrolling and scrolling on social media until you realize a few hours have slipped through your fingertips? When we use screens in this way, we're using them to fill a void that we're feeling and often to keep ourselves distracted enough to avoid dealing with what that negative emotion.

And just like anything we use to self-medicate, it can lead to addiction and dependency. People, especially teens who spend too much time on their devices can become addicted to the constant stimulation and rewards they provide. The adrenaline rush when they make it to a new level on their video game, or the dopamine hit when their post is getting a positive reaction. This can lead to feeling anxious or depressed when they're not able to use their devices.

Screens can cause sleep problems

Warm light that comes from things like reading lamps and campfires calm us down. They make us feel comfortable and relaxed. When we see blue light on the other end, it's our body's cue to wake up. We've been conditioned since birth that blue light means it's morning time and it's time to start our day! So when we are staring at the blue light of our phone or television, we're keeping our brain from producing melatonin (what makes you sleepy) making it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. This can lead to fatigue and irritability during the day. We wrote a blog all about sleep and mental health a few weeks ago, you can read it here!

Screens contribute to anxiety and depression

One study found that the more time a teenager spends in front of a screen daily, the more likely they are to have or develop symptoms of anxiety and depression. There are many complicated factors that go into what makes this true, but here are just two.

Isolation is counterintuitive to how we're wired

The phrase "we're better together," is cheesy, but it's true. We thrive and are at our most fulfilled mentally, physically, and spiritually, when we have people in our lives. We all need people who care about us, look us in the eye, listen to us, touch our shoulder, and show us love. It makes the math pretty simple then when you consider the more time you spend behind a screen, the less space in your life you have for those relationships.

The more we look at other people's lives, the less we like our life

That might be an extreme way to put it. But when we scroll through picture after picture of how awesome everyone else wants us to think their life is, the more insecure we get about the life we actually are living. The thing is though, a picture on Instagram is one curated, edited snapshot of a reality that may or may not exist. If we assume that everyone that we follow on social media only has good hair days, scenic views, and inspiring insights, we're in for a world of hurt. But that's not real life. Our anxiety and depression levels increase when we fixate over what we don't have.

One way to help our teens: model what you want to see.

If I only had enough ink in a pen to write down one thing you can do to to build a healthier screen culture for your family, it's this.

Vince Lombardi has this great quote, "leading by example isn't the best way to lead; it's the only way to lead." An older and simpler phrase goes, "monkey see: monkey do." The score has been settled, the "do as I say, not as I do" method of parenting, just doesn't work!

If your teenager is constantly seeing you use screens to avoid difficult conversations, escape reality, and find fulfillment, it's going to be tough convincing them that they shouldn't.

Before we go to the extreme and start throwing laptops out of windows and running over our iPhones, let's take a breath. Instead of making a resolution to go screen-free, try making a goal to be more mindful about when and how you're using screens. Ask yourself: am I doing this to escape something, or because it's adding value to my life? It's not bad to relax and watch your favorite show, or see how your friends are doing on social media! But check yourself, and ask the question: why? If you're lonely, see if there's someone you can reach out to and have a conversation with instead of mindlessly scrolling through your feed. If you're stressed, try taking some deep breaths or going for a walk outside.

Now help guide your teen through doing the same thing.

Final thoughts

There's no doubt that screens are a big part of our lives, and they're not going anywhere. But we can control how they impact us, both individually and as a family. By being more mindful about our screen time, and helping our teenagers to do the same, we can create a healthier relationship with screens that benefits us all!

We are so passionate about this topic that not only do we help families develop healthy screen cultures in their homes, and lead workshops on this very thing, but we actually created a resource for parents and we want to give it away for FREE.

The guide that we created will give you in-depth, clinically proven insights and advice on navigating phones, video games, social media, and more. We know that it's going to give you a huge leg up in your quest to be the best parent you can be. We want you to have it so bad we made it free.

Let's create healthy screen cultures for our homes that make healthy teenagers for our world.