There are disturbing trends as far as low self-esteem, loneliness, depression, and anxiety amongst our young people. Emergency rooms are seeing increasing numbers of young people who are attempting or considering suicide.

(CNN)The number of children and teens in the United States who visited emergency rooms for suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts doubled between 2007 and 2015, according to a new analysis. From the 300 emergency rooms sampled, the researchers tracked the number of children between 5 and 18 who received a diagnosis of suicidal ideation or suicide attempts each year .Diagnoses of either condition increased from 580,000 in 2007 to 1.12 million in 2015, according to the study, published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics. “The numbers are very alarming,” said Dr. Brett Burstein, the lead study author and a pediatric emergency room physician at Montreal Children’s Hospital of McGill University Health Centre.(1)

The Statistics are Unsettling

 Why is this not getting more national attention?  Suicidal thoughts in children are unusual. These numbers have doubled in a span of eight years. What has changed? What is the biggest social change that has happened in that span of time?

Personally, I can remember around 2012 thinking it was strange that we had to talk about getting our elementary school and middle school children a cell phone. It became a must purchase. Honestly, I was forced to give in because of societal pressure. The thought of my kid being the only one in the 7th grade class without a cell phone was too horrible to bear. That is how it all started.

But do we stop and ask the questions, “Is this a good idea?  What are the repercussions of this?”

This was a grand social experiment that wasn’t planned or wasn’t controlled. It just happened. Of course, the phone companies and the cellular communications companies were ecstatic. They’ve made billions of dollars. So have all the social media giants. The Facebooks and the Instagrams and all the people who benefit personally from having huge numbers of followers. 

But what about our children and grandchildren?  Why are children between the age and 5 and 11 even thinking about suicide? Suicidal thoughts should be the furthest thing from their minds.  

Is Social Media Playing a Role?

Social media and time on social media is one huge social experiment. No one knows the long-term consequences of these major changes. Personally, I can already see the changes in my own family that is reflected in our interactions.

When a child or teenager starts thinking that suicide is the solution to a problem, that’s a huge problem. I believe this is a crisis, but there isn’t a lot of news coverage about it. I also believe there is a solution that will be of benefit to each of us and to our families.  Clearly social media is having an impact:

“Social media has been linked to higher levels of loneliness, envy, anxiety, depression, narcissism and decreased social skills.   I conducted in-depth interviews with men and women, ranging from ages 28-73, that are active social media users and found that:
60% of people using social media reported that it has impacted their self-esteem in a negative way
50% reported social media having negative effects on their relationships
80% reported that is easier to be deceived by others through their sharing on social media(2)

Look at the age groups associated with this data. Could it be possible that these same effects are more pronounced in younger people?

Solutions?

When teenagers and children spend most of their time on social media, they are instilled with a vision or an idea that everyone else has a better life than they do.

This is what singer and actress Selena Gomez said about social media. Keep in mind that she has 150 million followers.

“Gomez said too much screen time on Instagram made her “kind of depressed looking at these people who look beautiful and amazing, and it would just get me down a lot, so I just think taking breaks is really important.”

Notice her comment, “it would just get me down a lot.”  This is a beautiful, talented and famous young woman. How are our teenagers supposed to feel?

Research conducted by Cigna showed that young people with the highest rates of social media use reported very similar feelings of loneliness as compared to those who barely use it. Cigna CEO David Cordani says, “meaningful social interaction” was seen as key to reducing isolation so more face-to-face conversations are needed. (3)

The antidote to loneliness and isolation is relationships.  Family and friends that are there for support. From thirty years of experience in the emergency room, I can tell you we know who is at highest risk for another attempt of suicide after discharge from the hospital. It’s those with very limited social support. Few family members. Few friends.  One way to counteract this growing trend is to emphasize the importance of friendships and family.

There is another protection against the negative aspects of social media such as body shaming, bullying or rejection.  In looking at this idea about social media and likes and the damage that all of this does, I came across research showing that there is one protection when it comes to getting criticism or no validation through likes. It is a cocoon of protection against this gamut of negativity flowing out of social media. It is a sense of purpose. Purpose protects our children and grandchildren from the critiques and barbs thrown about by others. (4)

 “In a survey of 300 adults, Burrow and Rainone examined the relationship between Facebook likes, self-esteem, and sense of purpose. To assess sense of purpose, participants rated their agreement with six statements such as “to me, the things I do are all worthwhile” and “I have lots of reasons for living.” Those who indicated that they had a great deal purpose in life showed no relationship between Facebook likes and self-esteem. But for those who lacked purpose, the more Facebook likes they received, the better (or worse) they felt about themselves.”  

This is valuable information that is crucial in this age of social media and distraction.  A sense of purpose as well as forming healthy and thriving relationships with friends and family help with confidence and a healthy self-image.  Talking about purpose and self-image with our children and grandchildren is a good way to get a bearing on where they are with respect to loneliness, self-esteem and their own sense of well-being.

About the author

Johnny Cavazos is a practicing emergency physician with over 30 years of experience working in emergency rooms in Houston, Texas. He is the author of the faith-based book, Brave The Wave: Discover and Fully Realize Your Authentic Self.

Bravethewave.org

bravethewaveweride@gmail.com

1. https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/08/health/child-teen-suicide-er-study/index.html
2. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/social-medias-impact-on-self-esteem_us_58ade038e4b0d818c4f0a4e4
3. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/01/loneliness-poor-health-reported-far-more-among-young-people-than-even-those-over-72/559961002/
4. Burrow, A. L., & Rainone, N. (2016). How many likes did I get?: Purpose moderates links between positive social media feedback and self-esteem.  Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.