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Warnings about the impact of social media on kids are flying at us from all directions lately, it seems. First it was the American Psychological Association, who recommended new guidelines on social media use for kids in early May. Most recently, depo provera non stop bleeding it’s U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, who just today issued a major advisory on the effects of social media on youth mental health.

As a parent of three teens and a tween myself, I’ll be the first to admit that screen time has practically been my parenting partner throughout the years. Who among us hasn’t enjoyed a few precious moments of peace while our kids occupied themselves with a tablet or a phone? When social media use entered the chat, it felt like a natural extension of my kids’ screen usage; what they were looking at — and interested in — on the screens evolved as they grew. But with broader use of the internet comes greater responsibility for us as parents, and as much as I’d love to just be able to give them unfettered access to the world via their screens and walk away, it can’t happen that way. And I don’t know about you, but the recent releases from the APA and the Surgeon General’s office make me feel like it’s time to step up my parental involvement even more where my kids’ social media use is concerned.

“The most common question parents ask me is, ‘is social media safe for my kids?’. The answer is that we don’t have enough evidence to say it’s safe, and in fact, there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people’s mental health,” Dr. Murthy said in his May 23rd statement. “Children are exposed to harmful content on social media, ranging from violent and sexual content, to bullying and harassment. And for too many children, social media use is compromising their sleep and valuable in-person time with family and friends. We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis — one that we must urgently address.” He called on not only parents, but policymakers and tech companies, to take steps to make social media safer for kids.

While the APA’s statement didn’t seem quite as damning of social media as a whole, it did warn of the impacts of social media use on brains that are still developing, and therefore vulnerable. “Adolescent brain development generally starts before puberty, around age 10, and lasts through early adulthood,” reads the statement. “This is an important phase of growth during which the brain undergoes dramatic developmental changes. In early adolescence, brain regions associated with a desire for attention from peers become increasingly sensitive. Social media may exploit that desire. Meanwhile, brain areas important for self-control don’t fully develop until early adulthood. When thinking about the use of social media in your family, it’s important to recognize the unique vulnerabilities of adolescent brains. Your guidelines around social media use should evolve as children mature.”

I spoke with Ariana Hoet, Ph.D., executive clinical director of On Our Sleeves — an organization at the forefront of the movement for children’s mental health — to get her professional take on kids and social media. Because boy, could I use some practical advice on how to regulate and monitor my kids’ social media. How do we keep our kids safe online and protect their mental health while still allowing them to reap the benefits that they can get from social media? It’s a fine line to walk.

“It’s interesting because social media is meant to connect. And when used appropriately, it does help with connections,” Dr. Hoet tells SheKnows. “But for some kids, it leads to more isolation, or it leads to social comparison, and an over-focus on what others think about them and peer pressure and peer opinion.”

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