If you or someone you know may be considering #suicide, contact the #988Suicide&CrisisLifeline by dialing or texting 9-8-8.
The statistics are sobering. Nearly 1 in 3 #teen #girls report having seriously considered #suicide in the past year. One in 5 #teens identifying as #LGBTQ+ say they attempted #suicide in that time. Between 2009 and 2019, #depression rates doubled for all #teens. And that was before the #COVID-19 #pandemic. The question is: Why now?
“Our brains, our bodies, and our society have been evolving together to shape human development for millennia. … Within the last 20 years, the advent of portable technology and #socialmedia platforms [has been] changing what took 60,000 years to evolve,” Mitch Prinstein, the chief science officer at the #AmericanPsychologicalAssociation (#APA), told the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. “We are just beginning to understand how this may impact youth development.”
#James Donaldson notes: Welcome to the “next chapter” of my life… being a voice and an advocate for #mentalhealthawarenessandsuicideprevention, especially pertaining to our younger generation of students and student-athletes. Getting men to speak up and reach out for help and assistance is one of my passions. Us men need to not suffer in silence or drown our sorrows in alcohol, hang out at bars and strip joints, or get involved with drug use. Having gone through a recent bout of #depression and #suicidalthoughts myself, I realize now, that I can make a huge difference in the lives of so many by sharing my story, and by sharing various resources I come across as I work in this space.#http://bit.ly/JamesMentalHealthArticle Find out more about the work I do on my 501c3 non-profit foundation website www.yourgiftoflife.org Order your copy of James Donaldson’s latest book, #CelebratingYourGiftofLife: From The Verge of Suicide to a Life of Purpose and Joy
Prinstein’s 22-page testimony, along with dozens of useful footnotes, offers some much-needed clarity about the role #socialmedia may play in contributing to this teen #mentalhealthcrisis. For you busy #parents, #caregivers and educators out there, we’ve distilled it down to 10 useful takeaways:
1. Social interaction is key to every child’s growth and development.
Humans are social creatures, and we learn through social interaction. In fact, said Prinstein, “numerous studies have revealed that children’s interactions with peers have enduring effects on their occupational status, salary, relationship success, emotional development, #mentalhealth, and even on physical health and mortality over 40 years later. These effects are stronger than the effects of children’s IQ, socioeconomic status and educational attainment.”
This helps explain why #socialmedia platforms have grown so big in a relatively short period of time. But is the kind of social interaction they offer healthy?
2. #Socialmedia platforms often traffic in the wrong kind of social interaction.
What’s the right kind, you ask? According to Prinstein, it’s interactions and relationship-building “characterized by support, emotional intimacy, disclosure, positive regard, reliable alliance (e.g., ‘having each other’s backs’) and trust.”
The problem is, #socialmedia platforms often (though not always) emphasize metrics over the humans behind the “likes” and “followers,” which can lead #teens to simply post things about themselves, true or not, that they hope will draw the most attention. And these cycles, Prinstein warned, “create the exact opposite qualities needed for successful and adaptive relationships (i.e., [they are] disingenuous, anonymous, depersonalized). In other words, #socialmedia offers the ’empty calories of social interaction,’ that appear to help satiate our biological and psychological needs, but do not contain any of the healthy ingredients necessary to reap benefits.”
The APA’s chief science officer also made clear that #socialmedia and the study of it are both too young to arrive at many conclusions with absolute certainty. In fact, when used properly, #socialmedia can feed teens’ need for social connection in healthy ways.
“Research suggests that young people form and maintain friendships online. These relationships often afford opportunities to interact with a more diverse peer group than offline, and the relationships are close and meaningful and provide important support to youth in times of #stress.”
What’s more, Prinstein pointed out, for many marginalized #teens, “digital platforms provide an important space for self-discovery and expression” and can help them forge meaningful relationships that may buffer and protect them from the effects of #stress.
4. #Adolescence is a “developmentally vulnerable period” when #teens crave social rewards, but don’t have the ability to restrain themselves.
That’s because, as #children enter puberty, the areas of the brain “associated with our craving for ‘social rewards,’ such as visibility, attention and positive feedback from peers” tend to develop well before the bits of the brain “involved in our ability to inhibit our #behavior, and resist temptations,” Prinstein said. #Socialmedia platforms that reward #teens with “likes” and new “followers” can trigger and feed that craving.
5. “Likes” can make bad #behavior look good.
Hollywood has long grappled with groups of #parents who worry that violent or overly sexualized movies can have a negative effect on #teen #behavior. Well, similar fears about #teens witnessing bad #behavior on #socialmedia might be well-founded. But it’s complicated. Check this out:
“Research examining #adolescents’ brains while on a simulated #socialmedia site, for example, revealed that when exposed to illegal, dangerous imagery, activation of the prefrontal cortex was observed suggesting healthy inhibition towards maladaptive #behaviors,” Prinstein told lawmakers.
So, that’s good. The prefrontal cortex helps us make smart (and safe) decisions. Hooray for the prefrontal cortex! Here’s the problem.
When teens viewed these same illegal and/or dangerous #behaviors on #socialmedia alongside icons suggesting the negative content had been “liked” by others, the part of the brain that keeps us safe stopped working as well, Prinstein said, “suggesting that the ‘likes’ may reduce youths’ inhibition (i.e., perhaps increasing their proclivity) toward dangerous and illegal #behavior.”
In other words, bad #behavior feels bad — until other people start liking it.
6. #Socialmedia can also make “psychologically disordered #behavior” look good.
Prinstein spoke specifically about websites or online accounts that promote disordered-eating #behaviors and nonsuicidal #self-injury, like #self-cutting.
“Research indicates that this content has proliferated on #socialmedia sites, not only depicting these #behaviors, but teaching young people how to engage in [them], how to conceal these #behaviors from #adults, actively encouraging users to engage in these #behaviors, and socially sanctioning those who express a desire for less risky #behavior.”
7. Extreme #socialmedia use can look a lot like addiction.
“Regions of the brain activated by #socialmedia-use overlap considerably with the regions involved in addictions to illegal and dangerous substances,” Prinstein told lawmakers.
He cited a litany of research that says excessive #socialmedia use in #teens often manifests some of the same symptoms of more traditional addictions, in part because teen brains just don’t have the kind of self-control toolbox that #adults do.
8. The threat of online #bullying is real.
Prinstein warned lawmakers that “victimization, harassment, and discrimination against #racial, #ethnic, #gender and #sexualminorities is frequent online and often targeted at young people. #LGBTQ+ #youth experience a heightened level of #bullying, threats and #self-harm on #socialmedia.”
And online #bullying can take a terrible physical toll, Prinstein said: “Brain scans of #adults and #youths reveal that online harassment activates the same regions of the brain that respond to physical pain and trigger a cascade of reactions that replicate physical assault and create physical and #mentalhealth damage.”
According to the #CentersforDiseaseControlandPrevention, “#youth who report any involvement with #bullying #behavior are more likely to report high levels of #suicide-related #behavior than #youth who do not report any involvement with #bullying #behavior.”
9. It’s hard not to compare yourself to what you see in #socialmedia.
Even #adults feel it. We go onto #socialmedia sites and compare ourselves to everyone else out there, from the sunsets in our vacation pics to our waistlines – but especially our waistlines and how we look, or feel we should look, based on who’s getting “likes” and who’s not. For #teens, the impacts of such comparisons can be amplified.
“Psychological science demonstrates that exposure to this online content is associated with lower #self-image and distorted body perceptions among young people. This exposure creates strong risk factors for #eatingdisorders, unhealthy weight-management #behaviors, and #depression,” Prinstein testified.
10. #Sleep is more important than those “likes.”
Research suggests more than half of #adolescents are on screens right before bedtime, and that can keep them from getting the sleep they need. Not only is poor sleep linked to all sorts of downsides, including poor #mentalhealth symptoms, poor performance in #school and trouble regulating #stress, Prinstein said, but “inconsistent sleep schedules are associated with changes in structural brain development in #adolescent years. In other words, youths’ preoccupation with technology and #socialmedia may deleteriously affect the size of their brains.”
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James Donaldson is a Washington State University graduate (’79). After an outstanding basketball career with WSU, he went on to play professional basketball in the NBA with the Seattle Supersonics, San Diego/L.A. Clippers, Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, and Utah Jazz. He also played for several teams in the European Leagues in Spain, Italy, and Greece, and he toured with The Harlem Globetrotters to wrap up his career. James was an NBA All-Star in 1988 while playing center for the Dallas Mavericks. In 2006, James was inducted into the Pac-10 Sports Hall of Fame and also the Washington State University Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2010, James was elected as a board member for the NBA Retired Players Association.
James frequently conducts speaking engagements (motivational, inspirational, educational) for organizations, schools, and youth groups.
In 2010, James was the recipient of the NBA Legends of Basketball ABC Award, awarded for outstanding contributions in Athletics–Business–Community.
He believes in being a role model for success and professionalism to the scores of young people to whom he devotes so much of his time. He currently serves on several boards and committees and is a member of many organizations.
James believes in developing relationships that create a “Win-Win” environment for everyone involved, and in being the best he can be!
For more information about James Donaldson or to request he speak at your event, contact him at:
James Donaldson is the author of “Standing Above The Crowd” and “Celebrating Your Gift of Life” and founder of the Your Gift of Life Foundation which focuses on mental health awareness and suicide prevention, especially pertaining to our school aged children and men.
If you’re interested in having James come and speak to your group of young adults, business entrepreneurs, aspiring political and community leaders, and athletic teams, please contact him at [email protected] and or leave a personal message for him at 1-800-745-3161. Keep up with him and read about how he is reaching out and making a difference in the lives of so many around the world at www.yourgiftoflife.org
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