When looking for answers, kids used to turn to a parent, teacher, or some other trusted adult. Nowadays, though, many are drawn to sites like TikTok on their quest for self and belonging, as evidenced by a recent EdWeek Research Center survey. Among the findings:
- 65% of responding teachers and school leaders said their students “sometimes” or “frequently” use social media “to diagnose their own mental health conditions.”
- 68% said their students use social media to diagnose others’ mental health conditions.
A separate survey of 1,056 high schoolers found that:
- 55% said they’ve used social media to diagnose their own mental condition(s) at least once.
- 28% said they do “sometimes.”
- 10% said they do “all the time.”
- 55% said they use it to diagnose others’ mental conditions.
- 11% said they do that all the time.
And it’s not just older kids. School counselor Kristen Nye says that, for the first time in her 20-year career, she’s hearing third, furth, and fifth graders say things like, “I have anxiety” and “I have depression.”
Think that’s disturbing? How about this from a recent CDC survey?
- 76.9% of parents reported that their teen always received the social and emotional support they needed.
- 27.5% of teens see it the same way.
And so it goes, nowadays…
~ With thanks, Carol
