Tick and Also Tock, Scary Stats and Our Upcoming Podcast

There are a million and one ways to stay connected – phones, social media, emails and texts. By way of any of these tools, we can stay abreast of what is happening around the globe, the corner, or right next door in your neighbor’s home. 

We can share our favorite recipes, vacation photos, life events – joyful, tragic, and otherwise. We can stay connected to our homes without actually being home. There are Ring Camera doorbells and other smart devices that will power on/off, adjust temperature, lighting and even feed your pet with a touch of a button or the sound of your voice.

Truth be told, you never have to fret, life can run perfectly without you. Modern day conveniences have granted us peace of mind, ease of life, the freedom to pursue our passions, and maybe even to stop and smell the roses while we meander down winding roads, right?

Wrong!

As a society, we are more anxious, lonely and depressed than ever before.

According to online data, “roughly 42% of teens admit that social media keeps them from connecting with friends in person.” 

A whopping “67% of adolescents report feeling worse about their own lives as a result of their social media use.”

These statistics are not meant to scare people away from social platforms, they are meant to shake us up and out of our willful ignorance. 

These numbers are telling us that more and more people, specifically adolescents are forgoing real life, face-to-face interpersonal relations for screen time. 

The effect of social media addiction on young people has been a growing topic of apprehension. Many mental health professionals worry that children and teens are particularly at risk.

Such concern is due to the way social media platforms encourage endless scrolling, impulsive behaviors, and the need for instant gratification.

For children and teens, whose brains are still developing, social media risks rewiring young brains to depend on rewards and addictive behaviors.

Users aged 18-to-22 account for a shocking 40% of Americans addicted to social media.

According to research from Common Sense, teens average 7 hours and 22 minutes of screen time per day, and kids 8–to-12 years old get an average of 4 hours and 44 minutes of screen time per day.

Data from Statista provides a deeper look into the negative effects of social media use reported by US teenagers.

Teens aged 13-to-17 reported that:

• 70% felt left out or excluded when using social media
• 43% have deleted social media posts due to receiving too few likes
• 43% felt bad about themselves if no one liked or commented on their posts
• 35% reported experiencing cyberbullying

One of the most serious risks social media addiction poses for young people is increased thoughts of self-harm and suicide.

Research from San Diego State University revealed that 7 in 10 teens who use social media for over 5 hours are at higher risk of committing suicide.

These will be just some of the topics The Pear Tree Project discusses during our next podcast, which will air Election Day (11.5.24).

Stay tuned for more information …

Did You Know? A bipartisan group of 14 state attorney generals filed a lawsuit alleging that TikTok has “addicted” young people and harmed their mental health. The states say that TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids do not yet have the defenses or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content. TikTok has faced additional lawsuits, including violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and sharing and selling minors’ personal information.