Docs warn about teens and "Facebook depression"

[Keith Bee]

Source: MSNBC.com

CHICAGO — Add "Facebook depression" to potential harms linked with social media, an influential doctors' group warns, referring to a condition it says may affect troubled teens who obsess over the online site. Researchers disagree on whether it's simply an extension of depression some kids feel in other circumstances, or a distinct condition linked with using the online site.

But there are unique aspects of Facebook that can make it a particularly tough social landscape to navigate for kids already dealing with poor self-esteem, said Dr. Gwenn O'Keeffe, a Boston-area pediatrician and lead author of new American Academy of Pediatrics social media guidelines.

With in-your-face friends' tallies, status updates and photos of happy-looking people having great times, Facebook pages can make some kids feel even worse if they think they don't measure up.

It can be more painful than sitting alone in a crowded school cafeteria or other real-life encounters that can make kids feel down, O'Keeffe said, because Facebook provides a skewed view of what's really going on. Online, there's no way to see facial expressions or read body language that provide context.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42298789/ns/health-mental_health/

---

"...teens who obsess over the online site?" Please. I know half a dozen people over 30 who are Facebook addicts!

[canetoad]

1. People over 30 should have

the experience and gumption to know what a shallow construct Facebook is.

I wouldn't wish to be a teen these days, with the focus on public disclosure of every aspect of life. I've said five million times that 95% of the noise on the internet comes from 5% of the users. The babbling cacaphony is driving underground those young people who are thoughtful and private. Shame.

[Skittles]

3. it's mind-boggling

people someone would never have called or sent a postcard - along comes Facebook and PRESTO! They are FRIENDS! I don't buy it; not at ALL.

[boppers]

46. When we had to take the time to bake clay tablets, just to keep in touch...

That's when we knew who real friends were, the ones who would carve our pyramid epitaphs.

[FLPanhandle]

8. My mother aged 75 loves Facebook

She sees pictures her grandkids post that she'd never see otherwise. Used as a sharing tool, it's great.

[kentauros]

9. Why wouldn't she see them via email?

That's the part of FB I don't understand. I have several email addresses. I'm on many message-boards and email lists. I have two different online photo-sharing resources to use (Photobucket and ImageShack.) I have two different phone numbers (landline and cell.) I'm in the "phonebook" both the printed and pretty much all of the online ones. Why again do I need FB?

[FLPanhandle]

11. The younger generation doesn't really use email though

The pictures and updates from the grandkids would never be sent.

Other people tag them too and she can see those.

It's not that email won't work, it's just easier to post it to facebook and be done.

[kentauros]

12. I find email just as easy

and I only send it to those I want to see it, not the world ;)

[FLPanhandle]

21. Yes, but you aren't a teenage girl

:)

[kentauros]

23. No, but I do txt

with my GF in NZ ;)

[boppers]

47. As an email geek who used to manage a stream of 900+ messages a day:

I'll offer a few examples of why you may enjoy it, if not need it:

1. FOAF (friend of a friend) photo tagging. Most people wind up with maybe 100 wedding photos. I have over 2,000, because if a stranger takes a picture of you, and then a mutual friend tags it, it becomes part of your personal photo history.

2. Spanning network groups. While most boards, lists, and chat are isolated, and self selected, facebook rips down that wall, so people often have discussions with total strangers. Imagine how the world would change for you if you only had *one* message board or email list, but it had everybody from your life on it.

3. Reconnection (see #2). I've lost a large number of email addresses and contacts over the years, but on facebook, I'm talking to high-school classmates, god-children, parents-in-law, etc. Not only is the wall of isolation ripped down, but the possibilities of connection are vastly increased.

[blueamy66]

51. Exactly.

Those are the same reasons I enjoy Facebook.

Nothing like seeing the kiddos grow up...talking to my soon to be stepson....re-connecting with HS friends...

I find Facebook to be awesome.

[lumberjack_jeff]

64. The advantage that FB has over email is that you don't have to guess about the recipient's...

... level of interest.

For instance, I posted a link to my company's webpage about a boat launching, and got responses from people I haven't seen in years.

If I'd sent a blanket email to everyone on my "friends list", two thirds would have been inconvenienced/annoyed by it.

[Bragi]

19. So what?

That anecdote is not a rebuttal to the claims made in the article.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

38. Every post on a hard drive!

:woohoo:

:patriot:

[fishwax]

43. I agree with you about being a teenager these days

"I wouldn't wish to be a teen these days, with the focus on public disclosure of every aspect of life."

[krabigirl]

63. It is better to be underground :)

[pam4water]

2. Remembers that good old days when it was only s geeks on the internet XD

[kentauros]

10. On the "Internet"

with only a 150 baud modem connected via the handset of your corded phone with a teletype to for I/O :P

[mahatmakanejeeves]

17. We had to punch our own cards.

Card punch machine? Ha! You had it easy.

[kentauros]

20. I did that too.

In Cobol :P

[FLPanhandle]

22. We used to dream about punching our own cards.

We'd get up at 4am and scavenge through dumpsters looking for old punch cards looking that matched our line of code.

[kentauros]

24. Did you ever drop your "program" stack?

:P

[mahatmakanejeeves]

27. Sheesh, I remember carrying those things around.

They were tied up with rubber bands. You had to be someone special to run a computer, so we'd drop off the stack at the computer room. During spring break, there was a pretty fast turnaround, and you could see right away where you had typed a comma instead of a period, causing the program not to run.

If we had modern equipment, we could go to the terminal room and dial up the computer. When the screeching started, we'd put the handset into the two rubber cups so the computer and the local terminal could talk to each other. I can't recall the speed, but I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be 150 baud.

Really, it seems like yesterday.

[pam4water]

41. We were evicted from out stack. Had to go live in an abacus in the middle of the road!

[pam4water]

44. Opps meant to post #41 here XD

[pam4water]

42. Ahhhhh hahaha you got me!

[Sherman A1]

4. I wonder if

there will soon be a pill that our pharmacuetical industry will be able to sell us for this condition (right up there with Restless Leg Syndrome)

I my day, it was Comic Books were bad for you...

Then it was something else, then something else, then something else.......

[nebenaube]

13. Restless leg syndome is real dude... n/t

[Sherman A1]

14. Really?

Which coincides so well with the drop off of Rx's for it once the patent ran out on the medication hyped by pharma......

It may very well be real and I empathize with those who may have it, yet one wonders just how many folks "suddenly discovered" they too had this affliction once the ads for the drug began running on TV?

[Keith Bee]

29. My sister has RLS, dude

And she suffered from it way before any ads were on the air.

[nebenaube]

33. or perhaps

a nomenclature change occurred and the pathological form of the common familial condition (RLS) is referred to as nocturnal myoclonus or Period Leg Movements during Sleep (PLMS).

[RobinA]

39. Friend

has had it for years. Never knew what it was or that it wasn't normal. Only knew it kept her from sleeping. Until the ads came out. She doesn't take the med, but at least she knows that it isn't normal and that if it starts to impact her life there is somehting that might give her some relief.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Its not social interaction

in the way in which we all grew up.

Maybe either we're screwed up or they will become so. :shrug:

Biggest noticeable effect at present, apparently , is on handwriting.

[boppers]

48. "handwriting"?

I am curious about this interface.

Does it have some benefits over direct text input? What is the goal of this form of information recording?

[reggie the dog]

6. facebook is easier to share

with more than one people at a time,

if i want to tell my friends in chicago, while it is cold and snowy, that i went biking in a t shirt because it is in the 70's i just put it up on my profile. If i want to bring attention to what is going on in madison i just put it up, i put up links showing about anti cancer properties of cannabis as well as some 911 truth movement stuff and I dont see the problem. i have no competition to have more friends than some others because i really dont care. I think i have all of 60 people in my whole social network counting my own friends, a couple of collegues, family memebers, parents friends and a few friends of friends who have come over here to visit in france and whith whom i like to talk music and politics.

[FLPanhandle]

7. I think researchers like to tie in the word Facebook just for publicity.

We should just ban social media sites because it might hurt little Timmy's self-esteem.

The teens who are troubled and have low self-esteem are going to be that way with or without Facebook sites.

[onehandle]

15. Facebook is a plague. nt

[Javaman]

16. yes it is.

it has turned a self absorbed nation into a nation of self absorbed facebook serfers.

;) LOL

[Keith Bee]

32. And created the Couch Potato Generation

Or Couch Dorito, as you like.

[Bragi]

18. A new book on the topic: "Virtually You"

Virtually You: The Dangerous Powers of the E-Personality

http://www.amazon.com/Virtually-You-Dangerous-Powers-Personality/dp/0393070646

It's written by a psychiatrist, but still worth a read.

His main point is that netizens who over-indulge in online activity, especially young people, risk depression-like symptoms, disassociation, addictive compulsive behaviours, multiple personalities disorders and other potential mental health risks.

Nicholas Carr's "The Shallows" is the other major book on this theme.

Bottom line -- these authors are pointing out that we are now into a huge uncontrolled experiment in mass neurological reprogramming, and we need to look carefully at the potential consequences, good and bad.

[NashVegas]

34. Facebook and Other Social Media Extend High School Lives

Before social media: after graduation, you went your separate ways and the peers you continue to socialize are people who you choose to socialize with outside of any externally-applied pressures, for the most part.

With social media: you get that friend request from someone you didn't really hang out with or didn't like, and you have social pressure to continue to associate with them.

That doesn't even begin to get into the mass lemming-like behavior Facebook and other social media encourage ("I stand with Neda!").

[RobinA]

40. The Thing I Hate

about Facebook is that I have a good friend, one of my best, who uses it A LOT and whom I don't like on Facebook. We live far away and don't see each other much, but we used to e-mail and call. Now she doesn't answer my e-mails and calls me while shopping. The Facebook her is starting to have an effect on my feelings toward the real her, only because I see her on Facebook more than real life. This is not good. I don't use FB much and should probably dump it. I don't need this nonsense.

[boppers]

49. "the real her"?

Not to pry, but seeing as how hard it is to know others, is not the facebook "her" much like the telephone "her", the shopping "her", the face to face "her", all being different manifestations of a personality through various mediums?

[Bragi]

58. Not at all

That's actually a big part of the book noted above -- people can and do create online personas that have little to do with their actual selves.

[seabeyond]

52. huge uncontrolled experiment in mass neurological reprogramming

that is how i see it. i dont even think it is tough to understand this. pretty damn obvious. especially with the young brains. i have told my children, they can wait until they are older and more set in their ways before deciding. it will also give the world a chance to catch up and see the effects.

[Bragi]

59. Agreed

I think you're wise to keep your kids away from social media as long as you can. We really do not understand what social media might be doing to the mental and physical health of kids, their socialization skills, or the neurological effects.

Maybe the research will eventually show all to be fine. Maybe not. If I had kids now, like you, I'd not be rolling the dice on this one.

[FLPanhandle]

61. Everything reprograms our neurons including TV, movies, texting, reading, school, work, friends, etc

I think Facebook is like anything in life, don't over do it, keep it in perspective, and enjoy the benefits of it.

Same for Television or video games.

I watch my teen daughters using it and they share pictures and updates among their friends. It's not a focus of their lives nor would I let it (or other things) become a primary focus.

[seabeyond]

62. yes. exactly. with everything you say.

my boys have not been interested, and i am good with that. we discuss ALL the factors you talk about. giving them the information and foundation they need to make their decisions.

many parents dont do what you do. and that is where i see the harm and the experiment. my youngest son hangs with a group of high achievers and A students. but for whatever reason, (culturally in some cases) the parents dont monitor or restrict the kids at all. i am hearing comments from this group of 12/13 yr old boys that i did not hear from the group of older son, where the parents had restrictions. it concerns me.

[FLPanhandle]

25. Beware the new thing!

Forgive me but I've seen studies from the 1960's about how Rock & Roll causes depression.
I've seen reports from the 1970's about how Heavy Metal music cause depression.
I've seen reports from the 1980's about how video games cause depression.
Now, it's Facebook.

The recurring theme is that whatever the "new thing" is blamed. Adults in the 60's blamed rock, adults in the 80's blamed video games, adults in 2011 blame Facebook.

Just an interesting fact of human psychology that adults fear things that are widely popular but not part of their youth experience.

[GliderGuider]

26. +1 I was just going to write a post like that.

I'm 60 and I love FB. Just like I loved all the other stuff that was supposed to depress me as I grew up.

The only thing I ever found that depressed me was learning too much about the state of the world's ecology and how unlikely it is that people are going to change their ways. Now I write about that on FB, and I'm not depressed any more...
:evilgrin:

[KittyWampus]

36. Except there are actual neurological effects stemming from gaming, cell phone use and computers.

Interesting how you can ignore science when it might shine a negative light on certain behaviors.

[Teaser]

60. there are actual neurological effects from everything

because you are your neurons.

Everything you do alters your brain.

[themadstork]

54. Thanks. I think fb is kinda lame but the hysteria here is lamer. Nt

[seabeyond]

55. and gosh, i dont think discussion ='s hysteria. i guess one can say

your response to this discussion is a bet hysterical

[magdalena]

56. +1 nt

[cottonseed]

28. All that "sexting" is the problem. And loud music.

[DavidDvorkin]

30. The article consists of opinion and anecdotes masquerading as objective fact.

[NashVegas]

35. The Plural of Anecdote Is Data

[PVnRT]

57. "those prone to depression"

In other ones, those teenagers prone to depression anyway may get depressed because of what they see on Facebook. What are the odds?

"It's a big popularity contest." Yeah. Kind of like life is much of the time. Get used to it.

[Blue Owl]

31. Why the long facebook?

n/t

[ReggieVeggie]

50. LOL

:thumbsup:

[InvisibleTouch]

37. I enjoy FB, but there's something vaguely Junior High Schoolish about it.

"Do I answer this person's friend request, whom I don't even know, or do I ignore them and hurt their feelings?" "Does so-and-so not like me after all, because they haven't friended me back?" Etc.

Other than that, I find it a useful tool for keeping up with many people at once. I like to hear happy reports about my friends' lives, and I like to see their happy pictures. It's not a game of one-upsmanship and I'm not in competition with them. Why should someone else's good fortune (real or edited) be a cause for depression? Granted, I'm well out of my teen years, but I've never allowed my sense of self-worth to depend on what's happening in someone else's life. Maybe that's the lesson that needs to be taught to today's teens, rather than fuming about the "evils" of Facebook.

[boppers]

45. "no way to see facial expressions"? This is why NT folks are poor scientists in computer mediation.

Those of us who had to learn the world without valuing crap such as facial expressions or body language come to the table with a very different perspective... if anything, computer-mediated communication is more honest, and reliable.

[seabeyond]

53. what it may allow is a blanket rudeness and uncivility due to the lack of ability

to read, ... ergo, protect.

[Teaser]

65. WORD.

Facial expressions have only ever added excess worry and processing time to my conversations.

The basics are easy, broad smiles, etc. The rest...I don't even notice.

[ChiciB1]

66. Personally I Really Dislike Facebook, But It Seems That It's Almost Impossible

NOT to participate. Every time I try to sign a petition or make different contacts I'm asked to do so through Facebook. I have signed up, but have decided I simply DON'T like having all my information out there. So when asked to do something through Facebook I just pass, Don't like it, and don't want the added pressure of multiple people contacting me.

And yes, I do realize it's a choice and there are other ways to communicate, but I'm seeing more and more polling and/or petition signing done through Facebook so I find I don't sign on. I just can't stand contacts from people who know people who contact me because of it.

I had also started a "twitter" and have stopped that too. I've had people following me when I simply made ONE comment about something then have a string of tweets of which I really couldn't have given a TWIT about!

But that's just me, but for those of us who aren't happy with these things it makes it more difficult for those who may want support for certain issues. I just ignore it and don't contribute.

[BOG PERSON]

67. CIA's 'Facebook' Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqggW08BWO0

[pipi_k]

68. Speaking of things looking better than they really are...

I remember being a teenager back in the 60s and wondering why my family wasn't as all-fired "normal" and happy as the families I saw on TV shows.

It made me very depressed for a long time until I realized that most real families were much like my own...not like Beaver Cleaver's family or Ozzie and Harriet, or even the Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch.

So what are you gonna do...hide kids in caves? Get rid of everything? Force people posting on Facebook to tell the unvarnished truth about their own miserable lives instead of making it sound like they live in Paradise?

Maybe parents need to start communicating with their kids and explain to them that people often make their lives sound more fun and exciting than they actually are.