Phone Bans at schools could negatively impact mental health of teenagers

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - There has been mounting pressure for social media companies to control what children and teens see on social media.

It's based on research showing social media can lead to mental health issues and expose young people to misinformation and cyberbullies.

"High profile efforts like the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murphy has warned about the potential harm to especially adolescents mental health from the use of social media even though the science is still early and there isn't really any concrete evidence of social media use directly causing say depression or anxiety or other adverse mental health effects," said Daniel Chang, KFF Health News Florida Correspondent on Total Information A.M. Wednesday, who wrote a story about it.

"A lot of research suggests that it does. And there's a strong association between some of those feelings, especially among adolescents and the use of social media, we're talking about things like uh negative comparisons perhaps or that the fear of missing out those kinds of things."

According to Chang, some states are considering outright age bans for kids to use social media.

"At least 30 states have some kind of a social media legislation pending and they run the gamut from teaching the critical thinking and social media literacy to just outright age bans," said Chang. "Depending on the age, the ages can vary from ages 13-15 that a child would need to, to reach that age before they can create an account or get their parents' permission."

At the same time... other groups fear controls may go to far and isolate teens reaching out for help.

"There is a youth media and well being research lab at the Wellesley Centers for Women where one of the research scientists has been studying the effects of social media on adolescence. And they feel that there are, there are kids who benefit from it," said Chang. "National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine have also found that not all kids respond the same and much of it may depend on their use as well as their ages. But there are certainly some kids who can benefit from it."

Some individuals see the use of social media as a benefit for teens.

"In our story, we used an example of a 17-year-old college freshman, who is black and the college that she's going to has about a 2% black population," said Chang. "But she's been using social media to connect with other students like her on campus. And that I would say that's an example of a positive way."