By Kalhan Rosenblatt - NBC News
The American Psychological Association on Tuesday released a series of 10 recommendations for teens' use of social media, including training in media literacy and limiting screen time so it doesn't interfere with sleep or physical activity.
The guidelines recognize that teens will use social media no matter what, so the organization says it aims to offer suggestions to teens and the parents, teachers and tech companies involved in their lives.
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Other recommendations are: adapt the use of social networks to the developmental capacities of young people, systematically detect "problematic use of social networks" and limit the use that adolescents make of social networks to compare the beauty or appearance of people.
"There's a lot of talk about social media today, including some suggestions that don't fit the science," said APA Chief Scientific Officer Mitch Prinstein, co-chair of the advisory group that developed the recommendations. "We are publishing this report now to provide a science-based and balanced perspective on this issue, so that all stakeholders can make decisions based on our experience regarding the potential benefits and risks associated with social media."
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The experts who made the suggestions come from various areas of psychology, Prinstein said. They analyzed the latest research to determine where science has reached a consensus on teens and social media.
While some of the experts' recommendations are practical, such as providing teens with resources on the positives and negatives of social media, others are more nebulous, such as minimizing teens' exposure to "cyberhate."
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Prinstein likened teens' use of social media to driving a car, in the sense that keeping teens safe should be a team effort that includes policymaking, parental oversight and changes by the companies that make the products.
"Social media is here to stay," Prinstein says. "So we have to teach kids to make the best of them and avoid the worst."
There is growing concern about what young people consume on social media and how it affects their self-image. Politicians and lawmakers have subjected companies responsible for social media apps such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat to increased scrutiny amid reports that some users have had body image issues and suicidal ideation, among other mental health effects.
Last month, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that would require social media users to be at least 13 years old and parental consent for users ages 13 to 17.
Legal cases against some social media companies are also making their way through the court system. A class-action lawsuit, which brings together more than 100 similar cases, alleges that social media is harmful to younger users and compares their addiction to that of opioids or tobacco.
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The new recommendations target various stakeholders: parents, educators, tech companies and teens themselves. The hope, according to Prinstein, is that the parties will collaborate to help young users get positive results when using social media.
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Emma Woodward, a clinical psychologist at the nonprofit Child Mind Institute, said the recommendations may be more useful for people who interact with teens on a daily basis, such as parents and teachers. He suggested turning individual guidelines into topics of conversation with teens.
"I think the best way to help kids be safe online is for there to be a collaboration between parents and their children or teens," said Woodward, who was not involved in crafting the recommendations. "That collaboration is probably going to lead to the most success in terms of helping kids use social media safely."
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Woodward is glad the recommendations reflect the idea that teens will use social media regardless of whether parents, educators or technology platforms are involved. But he said that while admirable, some of the guidelines can be difficult to put into practice, such as avoiding cyber-hate.
"Of course, I think it's very ambitious to avoid cyber hate at all, but I also think it's something that the vast majority of kids and teens who use social media are probably going to come across," he said.
Prinstein said the guidelines are not intended to denigrate social media, but to offer a safer approach.
"It was absolutely important that we reflect the science accurately, and that includes talking about both the benefits and potential warning signs we're seeing in relation to social media use," he said.
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In a report accompanying the recommendations, the authors state that social media is "not inherently beneficial or harmful to young people" and that those who use it in moderation and in ways that help cultivate their offline communities are likely to benefit from the connections made online.
The recommendations also recognize that young people struggling with mental illness, such as social anxiety, may benefit from interacting with others on social media.
However, the authors add that this group can also suffer the harmful effects of social media, such as viewing content that encourages eating disorders or self-harm.
