A new survey has revealed that more than 22% of American parents are concerned that their teenagers may become dependent on the internet. In fact, twice as many parents reported being concerned about internet addiction as were worried about drug or alcohol addiction.
The survey was undertaken in 2022 by the Child Mind Institute in a number of US cities, including New York, and highlights parent perspectives as they help their children navigate their relationship with technology.
Dr. Giovanni Salum, co-author of the study, spoke of an overall perception that mental health issues are becoming more commonplace and that evidence suggests that internet use and social media may contribute to that. This includes the internet's appeal to the human brain's rewards system and its association with addictive behaviors.
If the internet is just a small part of a person's life, that's fine. But if it's interfering with relationships and school, then it's cause for concern. The main thing I think we need to understand still is exactly what's the balance.
Dr. Giovanni Salum
The American Psychological Association's (APA) chief science officer, Mitchell Prinstein, noted that there are reasons for parents to be concerned, and although many parents felt confident about managing the balance between screen time and healthy offline alternatives, there were other factors such as the types of content being consumed, parenting styles, and parents own use of the internet that all need to be researched in more depth.
While monitoring screen time was seen as a positive move for parents, Prinstein suggested that what teenagers were consuming online may be more important, saying that, "The question for a lot of parents is, are they connecting with friends? Are they enhancing relationships with people that they know are really the people they say they are, or are they just going down a rabbit hole without realizing how long they've been on and then feeling regret, remorse, and exhaustion? Monitoring that is really important."
The APA, a strong advocate for internet safety awareness and training, compared training for the use of social media to obtaining a driver's license, with great value being placed on learning the rules of the road.