Despite all the 'likes' out there, the evidence that regular social media use is harmful to adolescents鈥� mental health is mounting.
He cited a survey that found the average teen spent nearly five hours per day on social media in 2023, and he mentioned recent research that suggested spending over three hours daily on apps doubled the risk of poor mental health outcomes like anxiety and depression.
Justason Lahue, a junior at Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester, also used that data in an for Vermont students.
开云体育's Jenn Jarecki spoke with Lahue, who goes by "J," about his winning essay. This interview was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We鈥檝e also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Jenn Jarecki: So J, you open your essay by saying, "social media is deteriorating adolescent mental health." What inspired you to write an essay on what you view as the harms of social media use within your particular age group?
J Lahue: I read this really good book called The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt and it opened up my eyes to how social media can have these really damaging effects on adolescent mental health. And within my community, I hear people talking about mental health all the time, but not as much how social media can hurt mental health. So I just really wanted to bring awareness to this topic.
Jenn Jarecki: In the essay, you call for changes to the legal age of "internet adulthood". Can you expand on the idea of internet adulthood for maybe listeners who aren't familiar with the idea, and provide some detail on what you'd like the legislature to do?
J Lahue: So internet adulthood is the age at which someone can fully access the internet, so agree to terms and services and get access to all websites and all social media platforms. In my essay, I suggest that legislators change the age of internet adulthood to 16 and hold companies liable to enforce it in order to protect people with immature brains 鈥� which are individuals that are under the ages, specifically under the age of 14 鈥� and make sure that people only get access to social media once their brain is able to handle the harmful effects.
Jenn Jarecki: I understand Sen. Bernie Sanders last weekend hosted a round table at the Statehouse with the contest winners and finalists. What was that experience like?
J Lahue: It was a really incredible experience because I got to hear all these different issues that teens want to bring more awareness to. And it was really incredible just to learn all these different issues and think about how I want to approach these issues. And I also got a lot of positive feedback on my essay and I got to see how many teens related to my topic.
Jenn Jarecki: J, would you be willing to share a little bit about your own experiences using social media and maybe potentially getting off some of those apps?
J Lahue: Yeah, my parents are pretty strict about social media and I actually don't have as many apps as most of my peers do. I don't have Instagram or TikTok, but I do have some 鈥� for instance, Snapchat, and I have started to move away from it because after doing so much research for my essay, I realized that it's really not worth it to use these apps with the effects that come with the use of the app.
Jenn Jarecki: So, you don't have FOMO [fear of missing out] not being on TikTok?
J Lahue: No, definitely not. And I know a lot of teens worry about missing out or kind of being out of the loop with all their peers, but I think we just need to push back this fear, push back against that fear and instead prioritize our mental health.
