‘I’m cautiously optimistic,' says child psychiatrist of Meta settlement

Child psychiatrist Rakin Hoq, M.D., hopes the settlement that the social media company Meta reached with states across the country sets a precedent. “I’m cautiously optimistic that this is going to be an example, but I don’t anticipate it’s going to be feasible to regulate all platforms. There are always going to be new and evolving platforms.”

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, agreed to pay about $18 billion for child privacy and consumer protection law violations. It also agreed to:

-Restrict teens to two hours a day across its platforms.
-Improve age-checking measures.
-Block use from midnight to 6 a.m. for teens.
-Mute push notifications during school hours.

Hoq has been paying close attention in his role overseeing psychiatric consultations at the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital. “My team is embedded in the Emergency Department. Many of the crises that we see day to day relate to high-risk digital use,” he said.

Drawbacks of too much digital use for kids

Hoq wasn’t just referring to social media use but the use of digital devices more broadly. “What we know is when personal devices are in children’s bedrooms, it’s associated with delaying sleep and resulting in overall less sleep, which has cascading effects on mental health,” he said.

“Also, the more frequently kids are checking their devices, the more that is associated with having less attention span and being more prone to being distractible.”

Social media specifically

When it comes to social media specifically, Hoq said there’s a dose-dependent risk. “So exposure over three hours in a day is associated with young people having more symptoms of anxiety and depression. And what’s interesting about that is in some recent polls, the average American adolescent is on their social media apps at least four hours or more a day.”

Those apps can deliver content quickly and in a way that keeps people engaged. “When you’re getting short form bursts of novelty, that is a frequency of stimulation for the brain that is not replicable by reading a book or spending quality time in a relationship. It’s catering to the brain’s reward center in such an unnatural way that it can’t be replicated elsewhere, and it becomes very consuming.”

When it comes to regulating the use of social media, Hoq said the U.S. is playing catch-up. “Of the really developed nations, we’re actually a world behind them all. Countries in the European Union, like Spain and Greece, have instituted restrictions on social media use and access with the intention of protecting young users. The United States has had none. We’ve had zero, which is really unfortunate.”

Potential benefits of social media

But Hoq is not saying that social media is bad. It can actually have health benefits for adolescents and young adults, according to some research. It can help them connect socially, develop their identities, get mental health support and find health information.

“Young people are more informed than they have ever been because they have free, open access to unlimited information online. So more than ever, adolescents have opinions on world events and world societal issues. There’s merit to that, but there’s also added stress to that,” Hoq said.

“Another example is young people have access to social connections in a way that they never had before. A young person who may, by virtue of their personal interests, feel ostracized, can access connection with some like-minded individual somewhere and find community and acceptance and relatability,” Hoq said.

“Unfortunately, that’s then also fraught with so much unfortunate risk of predatory behaviors, which is something I end up seeing nearly every day, really, which is high risk.”

Helping kids navigate the risks is important, Hoq said. Restrictions are one way to do that as teenagers grow into adults.

“Our main executive center in the brain that isn’t fully developed until you’re 25, 28, around that age. The adolescent brain is primarily reward-driven. The behavior, decision-making, is primarily driven by the reward center. And so digital devices are really, really hooking that in.”

Vigilant parents can play an important role. “I would suggest that families, including parents, put away devices at night and also enforce other family connection times where everyone is off their devices, such as mealtimes,” Hoq said.

“When these restrictions are adopted as a familywide practice, that is what gets adolescents to adhere to limits, protects them from unhealthy use and helps facilitate family connection. It is also important that parents remain interested and inquisitive in their children’s interests, relationships and digital device habits, as that helps with monitoring and protection.”

And keep in mind that today’s teenagers are dealing with a rapidly evolving world. “The social experience of adolescents is more complex by magnitudes than it has ever been,” Hoq said.