Young adults are experiencing a kind of mental health crisis. Higher rates of loneliness, depression, and anxiety consume millennials, and social media is often considered the culprit. But for some, social media isn’t the problem — it’s the cure.
Psychologists are encouraging teens with anxiety disorders to post pictures on Instagram and Snapchat. Being more engaged on these platforms could help teens overcome social anxiety and self-consciousness, and it could help them better engage with their peers, recent research suggests.
There’s no doubt we need a solution: Anxiety disorders are far too common among young adults, particularly among girls. Nearly a third of teens will have an anxiety disorder by age 18, according to a 2010 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
But some say the solution should not be to shield teens from the online world. “The supposed cure — encouraging individuals to protect their well-being by limiting their internet and social media use — may actually reduce a new protective influence on mental health,” said Keith Hampton, a researcher in Michigan State University’s Department of Media & Information.
Put simply, teens are worried about what their peers think of them. To combat this, psychologists are having teens practice a kind of cognitive-behavioral therapy, in which they text, post selfies, like, and comment on other posts to overcome this fear and build self-confidence.
Keeping young adults off social media could have a negative effect on communication as well, says Lauren Hoffman, a clinical psychologist at the Columbia University Clinic for Anxiety and Related Disorders.
“You miss out on conversations, on invitations, or knowing what’s going on on the weekend,” Hoffman told the Wall Street Journal. “This is how teenagers are communicating.”
