How to manage the excessive use of social networks in young people and adolescents.

Tips to help young people disengage from social networks.

Social networks are tools with great potential to connect with others and to spread and receive ideas, but they also have their negative side. One of them is the ease with which we get "hooked" on them, even giving rise to problems of dependency, practically addictions based on repetitive behaviors.

The young population is especially vulnerable to this type of behavior patterns, and that is why many parents are concerned that their son or daughter is becoming addicted to these substances. are concerned that their son or daughter dedicates a good part of the day to focus their attention on these digital platforms.. Fortunately, Psychology gives several keys to help them overcome this kind of addiction.

How to deal with young people who make excessive use of social networks?

Earlier we mentioned that young people are more prone to overuse social networks to the point of to the point of letting them absorb their attention.. This is mainly due to these elements that, although they do not necessarily occur in all of them individually, statistically they are characteristics of adolescence and post-adolescence:

• They are more interested in gaining the acceptance and admiration of their peers.
• They are interested in controlling the image that others have of themselves.
• They want to be trendy and not be left behind with the dominant themes and aesthetics.
• Much of their socializing already takes place on the Internet.
• They are more vulnerable to discomfort due to lack of self-confidence, and on the Internet they can have an "avatar".

As we have seen, adolescence is generally defined by seemingly opposing forces: the desire to stand out and at the same time to fit in, the stress of not revealing personal insecurities and at the same time the pressure of having a public presence in front of thousands of Internet users. Social networks play on these dynamics creating both the promise of exciting incentives (mass acceptance) and the fear of "being left out of the game", known as FOMO syndrome syndrome (fear of missing out).

On the other hand, if we add to this the fact that social networks take advantage of the information that their millions of users post on them to offer the most personalized and addictive experience possible, the result is that many young people practically live by and for these platforms.

What can we, as parents, guardians or educators, do about this? The ideal is to resort to child and adolescent therapy if we have detected a case of excessive use of social networks by an adolescent, and if this problem results in conflicts in the family, family therapy is another option to consider. However, beyond that there are several tips that can help young people to "unhook". They are as follows.

1. Establish schedules and give support in their fulfillment

Banning a teenager completely from using social networks is, in most cases, a bad idea.Most of their circle of friends probably use these platforms on a regular basis to communicate with each other, to meet up, to talk about common experiences, etc.

Therefore, they will probably end up "skipping" this prohibition in some way and not even trying to stop using these social networks excessively, seeing everything related to this endeavor as an imposition.

The best thing to do is to set limits on the amount of time you should spend using social networks, and see it as a quantitative change, not a qualitative one: you will be able to continue doing everything you have been doing, just with more moderation.

2. Help him/her to make the most of the time he/she earns

To engage him in this process, it is important to help him focus on the positive things he gets out of it.

The most visible advantage of disengaging from social networks is that you have more time to spend with them.So calculate together how many hours he will gain by limiting his use of these platforms, and plan a time or two a week that he can spend doing something he enjoys beyond the screens (activities with or without your involvement).

Once that is done, propose that he set as a goal to have those moments, putting them physically in his schedule; from this moment he will have a constant reminder of how he should manage his time, and he will learn to value it.

3. Help him to detect moments in which he makes unnecessary use of his smartphone.

The smartphone is an electronic device that we often simply use without thinking about whether it is really necessary.We use it only because it is always there, it is accessible in a matter of two seconds and provides us with stimuli easily. As a result, it is a source of constant distractions, even though we would do better to use that time in other ways.

So think together about the times of the day when you use your smartphone even if you don't want to. In this way, you can prevent these situations and prevent your cell phone from becoming a temptation. For example: is it really unnecessary for you to use your phone as an alarm clock, causing you to literally spend the first few minutes of the day staring at a screen?

4. Set an example

It is very important to lead by example and show them that it is perfectly possible not to be always using social networks.

Are you looking for psychological assistance?

If you are interested in starting a psychotherapy process or if you are looking for advice related to the upbringing and education of your children, please contact us.

At Avance Psychologists we have been offering our services for more than 20 years to people with all kinds of problems in the management of emotions or behavioral patterns, and currently we not only work through face-to-face sessions, but we also offer online therapy by video call.

Bibliographical references:

• Karim, F.; Oyewande, A.A.; Abdalla, L.F.; Ehsanullah, R.C.; Khan, S. (2020). Social Media Use and Its Connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review. Cureus, 12(6): e8627.
• Pantic, I. (2014). Online Social Networking and Mental Health. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 17(10), 652 - 657.
• Scott, H. y Clelland, H. (2019). Understanding Links Between Social Media Use, Sleep and Mental Health: Recent Progress and Current Challenges. Current Sleep Medicine Reports, 5(3), 141 - 149.