Psychologist Calls Attention to Social Media as a Public Health Hazard

In New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ State of the City speech, he discussed protecting kids’ mental health in the face of excessive social media usage. 

Dr. Anthony Anzalone, a clinical psychologist at Stony Brook Medicine, also agrees that social media can be a public health hazard and has this advice: "There needs to be education on healthy digital media usage starting as young as possible with children. We need to incorporate teaching healthy social media usage in classrooms and, more importantly, we need children and teens involved in the process. Their expertise and experiences are invaluable, as they are generally more on the cutting edge of social media than adults are."

He says signs of screen time and social media are impacting children on so many fronts. "From the neurological perspective, we’re seeing a significant impact on their ability to sustain focus and the degradation of their executive functioning skills, which dovetails with their struggles academically. From a psychological standpoint, social media can contribute to irrational and distorted views that teens may have about themselves or the world around them."

Dr. Anzalone recommends some key tips:

-Universal programs to help promote information on topics such as healthy levels of screen use, digital literacy and physical activity.

-Identify those who are either at-risk or engaging in unhealthy social media usage and provide them the services they need to help make healthier decisions.

-Accountability on all levels: tech companies should allow researchers to have access to their data, government should allocate more resources to help at-risk populations, schools need to make this a topic that is discussed year-round and parents need to be taught the tools to know how to approach their children on this issue and collaborate in a manner that helps manage this issue.  

Interviews with Dr. Anthony Anzalone from Stony Brook Medicine can be conducted.