Social media may undermine teenage memories — Transcript

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1. 0:00Now, social media is everywhere, and not
2. 0:02a surprise for parents, teenagers are
3. 0:05some of the biggest consumers of social
4. 0:06media, but a brand new study that's just
5. 0:09out shows it is having a negative impact
6. 0:11on teenage memories and then also their
7. 0:14test scores. So, licensed professional
8. 0:16counselor Mike Bombgartner is joining us
9. 0:18today to talk about the study and how we
10. 0:20can better protect our teenagers. You're
11. 0:22not just a counselor, you're a dad of
12. 0:24teenagers and you're married to a
13. 0:25teacher, so you're a bit of an expert on
14. 0:27this subject. Good morning to you. Good
15. 0:29morning.
16. 0:30>> Uh Mark, let's first get down to the
17. 0:31brass tax of the study itself. What does
18. 0:34it say about our teenagers memory test
19. 0:36scores?
20. 0:37>> Well, the largest study um to date in
21. 0:40the country of um adolescent um brain
22. 0:44development uh has been conducted. It's
23. 0:47a longitudinal study meaning it's going
24. 0:49to follow these kids uh through years
25. 0:51but thousands of kids and for nine and
26. 0:5410 year olds. The study was published in
27. 0:56the journal of the American Medical
28. 0:58Association and it showed that scrolling
29. 1:01on social media resulted in reduced
30. 1:04scores on for memory on vocabulary and
31. 1:07reading tests. And so the concern here
32. 1:10is that um the brain is super vulnerable
33. 1:13because it's developing in childhood and
34. 1:15adolescence. And if the brain's
35. 1:18optimizing for functioning for short
36. 1:22attention span, high reward, which
37. 1:24occurs with social media scrolling, it
38. 1:27may not optimize as well for higher
39. 1:29functioning tasks. So with this brain
40. 1:32development, what happens is uh as kids
41. 1:34grow up, their brains uh become more
42. 1:37efficient um such that they can do
43. 1:40problem solving and more complex uh
44. 1:43things um to function in the world. And
45. 1:46so if we're spending too much time
46. 1:49overdoing it on screens and and with
47. 1:51social media um we're not ne you know
48. 1:54that can take away from normal healthy
49. 1:56brain development.
50. 1:57>> Sure. And it makes sense that you could
51. 1:59do something quickly uh but maybe not
52. 2:01something that requires a longer memory
53. 2:04span. Uh let's talk about social media
54. 2:06and how it really kind of mimics or
55. 2:08really spurs on like addictive, you
56. 2:10know, compulsions and patterns and how
57. 2:12that really is detrimental to the
58. 2:13teenage brain.
59. 2:14>> Yeah. So, everybody's probably got some
60. 2:16experience with uh scrolling and losing
61. 2:19track of time and that kind of thing.
62. 2:21And so um with kids in particular again
63. 2:24it goes to u the brain what you know the
64. 2:27way the brain works in the neural uh
65. 2:29pathways is what we attend to um is what
66. 2:32strengthen strengthens in the brain. So
67. 2:35neurons that fire together wire together
68. 2:37is the saying.
69. 2:39>> And so I'm going to have more difficulty
70. 2:41if I'm a teen spending tons of time on
71. 2:44social media. Um being able to attend to
72. 2:46other things that require more
73. 2:48concentration and uh critical thinking.
74. 2:51So it might be harder to complete
75. 2:53assignments. There could be um
76. 2:56variations in mood and irritability when
77. 2:58I'm not constantly able to attend to uh
78. 3:01uh my notifications and connecting.
79. 3:03>> Sure. It stands to reason that to
80. 3:05concentrate on say, you know, Shelly or
81. 3:08or some other longer work of literature
82. 3:10would be much more difficult than
83. 3:12spending 20 seconds on on a post on
84. 3:14social media. Um, you
85. 3:16>> Yeah. And and then to the sort of the
86. 3:18addiction thing is like, okay, when does
87. 3:20overuse become uh compulsive and have
88. 3:23negative consequences, so I'm not
89. 3:25getting enough sleep or I'm not making
90. 3:28social connections or connecting with my
91. 3:30family as well as I might. Uh, and so we
92. 3:33know that there can be increased
93. 3:34isolation, reduced activity that can
94. 3:37affect health physically and mentally.
95. 3:40>> Got it.
96. 3:40>> Yep.
97. 3:40>> Mark, you and I are both parents of
98. 3:42teenagers. Let's get very practical. Uh,
99. 3:45what can we do in a very practical
100. 3:47sense? Because our teenagers are going
101. 3:48to be on social media. So, what can we
102. 3:50in a very practical sense do to protect
103. 3:52our teens?
104. 3:53>> Okay. So, digital limits. And so, that
105. 3:55can look like a lot of things, but first
106. 3:57and foremost, no phones in the bedrooms.
107. 3:59>> Okay. Um like in my house, we put them
108. 4:02in a central place near the kitchen,
109. 4:05okay? Uh to charge at night. Um but
110. 4:07having defined uh hours for access and
111. 4:10then with younger kids, really paying
112. 4:12attention to content. That's important
113. 4:14for everybody. So having a family plan
114. 4:18in terms of you know when it's okay when
115. 4:20it's not okay how much time is critical
116. 4:23and then the other thing is making sure
117. 4:25encouraging even mandating activities um
118. 4:29whether it's um the homework or academic
119. 4:32or social sports that kind of thing
120. 4:35reading problemolving games family time
121. 4:38and connection all critical for healthy
122. 4:41brain development.
123. 4:43>> Awesome. I love that. And I I love what
124. 4:44you were talking about the family plan
125. 4:46because I think if you agree upon with
126. 4:48your kids what the boundary should be
127. 4:50then you get their buy in. So good
128. 4:52advice there Mark. Thank you so much for
129. 4:54the discussion. I really appreciate it.
130. 4:56>> Thank you.