TEENS AND THE INTERNETThe exciting, scary and reassuring news about social media and internet use

Agenda

Who am I? What are teen’s doing? Does social media help or

hurt? What can you do to help?

The Tasks of Teens Becoming Independent Developing Mastery Establishing an identity

Understanding consequences Learning Self-regulation

The Brain of the Teen Yes, there is one Emotional brain Reasoning brain

Teenage brain Adult brain

Where the action is

Frontal Lobe Function Frontal Lobe the CEO of the Brain Anticipation Planning Goal-directed behavior Strategizing Organizing Initiating, stopping, starting and shifting

attention

How does the internet fit in? Anxiety Depression Addiction Social learning

The Internet It’s everywhere Neither you nor your children can escape

the impact of technology on our culture TV, Radio, Movies, Telephone worked the

same way for earlier generations What is social media?

Any medium through which two or more people interact

Email, IM, texts, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Social Media and Tasks of Teen Independence Mastery Identity Understanding consequences Self-regulation

Social Media and Anxiety Correlation between anxiety and

FaceBook People who check social media every 15

minutes or more have higher anxiety levels

For some teens social media can also help anxiety if used appropriately

Worry or dread Obsessive or intrusive thoughts Sense of imminent danger or

catastrophe Fear or panic Restlessness Irritability Impatience Ambivalence Trouble concentrating

Anxiety: Psychological Symptoms

Anxiety: Physical Symptoms Flushing or blushing Sweating, especially

the palms Lightheadedness or

faintness Nausea or vomiting Feeling of

"butterflies" in the stomach

Nail biting or other habitual behavior

Shortness of breath Difficulty sleeping Choking sensation Frequent urination Diarrhea Constipation Dry mouth Muscle tension Rapid or irregular

heartbeat

Social Media and Tasks of Teen Independence Mastery Identity Understanding consequences Self-regulation

Social Media and Depression Social media such as Facebook and MySpace

can have a positive impact on Depression Social Media allows otherwise physically isolated

people to communicate with friends Social media is often used as a way to make

plans Virtually all teens would rather spend face

time with their friends than be online with them

Lack of exercise and poor diet DO amplify depression

Depression constant feelings of sadness, irritability, or

tension decreased interest or pleasure in usual activities or

hobbies loss of energy, feeling tired despite lack of

activity a change in appetite, with significant weight loss or

weight gain change in sleeping patterns, ex. difficulty sleeping, early

morning awakening or sleeping too much restlessness or feeling slowed down decreased ability to make decisions or concentrate feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, or guilt thoughts of suicide or death

What’s a parent to do? The ground work has been laid Influence

Computer culture vs. life knowledge Connection Have faith in yourself, your children and

the years you have already put into them

The Tasks of Teens Independence Mastery Establishing an identity Understanding consequences Self-regulation

The Tasks of Parents Listen and then listen some more

Independence, mastery and identity Recognize and reflect on

consequences Self-regulation

Your example Setting limits

Parent’s Tasks Listen Limits for a reason

Enforcing consequences Addiction Bullying

Exercise Downtime Be an example Helping them learn from their mistakes Help think something through without providing

answers right away

We’re Anxious Too Our teens are appropriately anxious

about their place in the world We are appropriately anxious about how

our teens negotiate this life stage Let’s not forget to bring our reason to

bear

Questions Center for Family Therapy

Jenny Putnam, LICSW

The more technical and more advanced thescience becomes, often the more it leads usback to some very basic tenets of spendingloving, quality time with our children.

--Jay Geidd, neuroscientist