(You will have to forgive me – I cannot source any of this theory but I hope to soon!)
I recently attended a conference with an excellent speaker who was talking about children’s and young people’s mental health. He pretty much confirmed (referring to research) what many of us have intuited about why children’s mental health is getting worse. His positive messages about promoting resilience included much of what I have written in my book ‘What’s going on inside my head?’ such as the importance of face to face interactions, outdoor time, developing emotional literacy and not panicking when we feel unenjoyable emotions etc
The ‘loudest’ message I received however was about mental health and technology. We have long suspected that the amount of time young people spend on screens at the expense of other activities older generations did much more of when young has taken its toll and here is a model that explains why.
For a start, we all know that social media goes to great lengths to hook us in and keep us clicking. Every click we make creates data and data can be sold for big bucks. It is no surprise therefore that social media uses teams of psychologists to work out - say for example – whether we are more or less likely to click on something if the button is placed on the left or on the right. So, no wonder many of us are so effectively addicted. Much research has been done into the little rewards social media gives us which result in little dopamine hits. This is because social media is designed to stimulate our brain’s reward system to keep us hooked. It certainly works for many.
Social media also brings us global news at the click of a button and that news is nearly always completely disturbing. It would appear that in order to get our attention, things need to be pretty extreme. Our minds are wired so we are far more likely to engage with ‘shocking’ than ‘mundane’. This leaves young people with an awful lot to worry about. Of course, it’s not just young people who are despairing about global issues, we all are but maybe it’s easier to have some protecting perspective when you’re a tad longer in the tooth! The extreme nature of global news and the fact it is at our fingertips can stimulate the flight or fight part of our brain and we can feel stressed.
So with both the brain’s flight or fight and reward system so regularly being stimulated, it leaves less time for the safe, calm and relaxed mind state; the state we are in when we go for a walk, when we are lost in creative flow, when we read a book or simply flop on the sofa eating a crumpet without thinking about anything else. With brains working at full pelt in this heightened way, it will make us fragile and certainly more prone to anxiety.
So what’s the answer? Yes to less screen time where possible. Yes to more ‘doing one thing at a time’ calming activities and yes to discussions about how the media needs to shock us to get our attention. But also, share this model with your child. Explain the importance of activities that are calming and not about being driven or stressed constantly. This will hopefully go some way to redressing this imbalance.