7 Days to Dethrone Social Media in Your Children’s LivesSample

Grapple With Anxiety

One of the most concerning developments in recent years regarding anxiety involves young people and their increasing familiarity with anxiety’s sister illness: depression. Recent studies show how depression among United States teens has risen steadily since 2012, with the rates increasing more rapidly for girls than for boys. A number of studies have shown anxiety among teenagers becoming more common every year for the last couple of decades now. Over that same period of time, screen time has been steadily increasing as well.

Why is it that teen anxiety and depression seem to be skyrocketing since the early 2000s? There is one suspect that lives at the intersection of anxiety, screen time, and life since the early 2000s. And that suspect is social media.

1) Have pointed, but kind, conversations about social media and anxiety.

If you recognize that one of your children is beginning to experience anxiety or even depression, and you know that they have an intimate relationship with their phone and social media, try to have a conversation about the relationship between those two things without being accusatory. Carefully ask questions with kindness, love, and grace that attempt to discern how much the anxious person is using social media, what apps they use the most, and what their activity looks like on those apps.

2) Be a safe person for your kids.

If one of your children is seriously struggling with anxiety and/or depression, it’s possible that he or she doesn’t feel comfortable talking to you about it. This could be because they feel ashamed, or even because they are afraid that you’ll be mad at them for some reason. If you want your children to bring their deepest hurts to you, it would be good for you to intentionally communicate that your kids can bring anything to you. One way you can do this is by being honest with them about how you’re doing. Be careful not to overshare and burden your kids with your problems, but consider how you can be appropriately open with your kids and show them that they can be open with you.

If we want to help people face the anxiety and other burdens of always being on their virtual stages, we should be willing to share our own struggles to build trust and show them that the water’s fine.