Youth and Social Media
Youth & Social Media
In 2022-2023, we interviewed clinicians and professionals who work with youth on their perceptions about social media use. These stakeholders shared about the positive and negative aspects that teens may face when using social media.
Importantly, the benefits include connecting with friends and having an outlet to share interests and explore who they are. The most prominent risk shared was cyber-victimization and seeing content that was harmful to teens’ well-being or self-esteem. We share more about these perspectives and resources to help teens navigate social media in safe and healthy ways in the following presentations.
Youth & Social Media Resources
There are many resources available to parents, clinicians, and teens on how to navigate social media use. See the following links for more resources. Let us know if you’d like to share additional links or request specific information to be shared by emailing us here at __________________________(email address to come).
For Parents & Adolescents
For Parents of Children Being Cyberbullied
For Clinicians
Support for this site and our community-engaged research was provided by MICHR (NIH grant number UM1TR004404).
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Youth & Social Media Resources
For Parents & Adolescents
American Psychological Association
- Health Advisory on Adolescent Social Media Use
- Tips for parents on how to support their children with social media use
- How to help teens develop social media literacy skills
Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media has many resources on healthy digital and social media use, across childhood. Here are some links that may be helpful as it relates to social media use. We recommend you check out the whole site!
Stopbullying.gov
A great resource from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, specific to helping teens who may be experiencing cyber-bullying.
- Stopbullying.gov home page
- What Kids Can Do – If experiencing cyber-bullying, check out this page
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)
American Academy of Pediatrics
U.S. Surgeon General
- Social Media and Youth Mental Health – advisory issued in 2023 on the impact of social media on youth mental health
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Youth & Social Media Resources
For Parents of Children Being Cyberbullied
Cyberbullying Research Center
The Cyberbullying Research Center uses research on the cause and effect of cyberbullying to provide resources to parents and students.
Safe Social Network
Safe Social Network provides resources to parents to help teens have a safe online presence.
Internet Matters
Need help with setting up parental controls and helping your child stay safe online? Internet Matters, started by parents in partnership with tech companies, offers guidance.
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Youth & Social Media Resources
For Clinicians
Clinicians, build your social media support toolkit with the following resources.
Digital Wellness Lab
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
- For youth who have experienced sextortion
- Netsmartz Resources for Parents, Educators & Communities
- Take It Down program – developed to help families with children whose images have been shared online
Social Media and Mental Health: How to Support Teens Use Social Media in Safe and Healthy Ways
This September 2023 Pearls for Partners session reviewed current research on social media and adolescent mental health, outlining risk factors and ways that clinicians can support teens. Content shared included strategies for identifying risky or harmful social media useand how adults can help adolescents use social media in healthy ways.
