In the modern era, technology is everywhere. Our children and ourselves use technology to complete work and school. What’s more, most of us browse the internet daily out of curiosity. While technology can greatly improve our lives and make things easier, it can also cause issues with mental health. It’s important to be mindful of the fact that technology can exacerbate your daughter’s struggles during recovery. This technology can include the media your daughter consumes through television and online. It can also include TikTok and all forms of social media. Whether she realizes it or not, your daughter most likely feels the impact of technology on her mental health. At Clearview, we strive to understand and implement the best ways to manage technology use. This way, we can help girls to fully heal and create healthy and happy lives.
The impact of technology on mental health can be far-reaching. This impact can start with self-esteem issues stemming from comparing ourselves with others. Additionally, social media can lead to addiction to phones and technology. Also, the addictive behaviors caused by social media and technology use can lead to replacing one addiction with another throughout recovery. All of this can impede a girl’s recovery.
Understanding how technology can affect your daughter is key to maintaining her recovery and keeping her healthy. Technology has a helpful place in our world. Still, if you don’t monitor your daughter’s usage, technology can hamper your daughter’s recovery and mental health journey.
The Impact of Technology on Mental Health
Technology has been found to impact mental health in both teens and adults. Being exposed to constant stimuli without a break can be harmful to both our attention span and mental health. Exposure to social media and constant information flow can be overwhelming to the brain.
Technology is an overall helpful and encouraging tool, but when used constantly, it can become an issue. For example, some video games are good outlets for teenagers and encourage creative expression. Others can become an addiction or impact attention spans. The usage of social media, especially in adolescence, can also affect mental health recovery.
Social Media Facts
The U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory about social media usage in youth published in 2023 states that: “…the current body of evidence indicates that while social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents, there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”
The report further states that social media usage in ages 13 to 17 is nearly 95%, making it nearly universal. While social media can be beneficial in its ability to connect communities, it can also harm mental health.
Self-Esteem Issues and Doom Scrolling
What’s more, the encouragement to share their lives on social media can lead to safety and self-esteem issues in teenagers. Oversharing personal information puts teens at risk. Being exposed to a constant stream of other’s lives and experiences may encourage teens to compare themselves unhealthily. All of this can cause self-esteem issues and negatively affect mental health.
Social media also can encourage endless “doom scrolling.” As the algorithms and feeds of many social media apps are unending, it can feel difficult for youth to turn away from screens. This constant scrolling can then affect their attention span and their mental health. It can also become a form of addiction that is hard to break on their own.
The Impact of Technology: How It Can Lead To Addiction
Although phone addiction can seem “normal” in current society, it is still a real addiction. Internet addiction is the same as any other form of addiction. It is defined as a dependence on the internet and technology. This can manifest as an inability to reduce the time spent using the computer or the internet. A teen’s happiness and attention span can become dependent on the internet and technology. This in turn can make it difficult for them to control or stop their usage.
When they are in addiction or mental health recovery, girls can be more susceptible to becoming dependent on new things. This is because they are craving something else to fill the spot their addiction filled in their lives. When going through recovery, therefore, it is important for your daughter to manage her interaction with things that can be addicting and work to keep herself accountable. Working alongside your daughter will strengthen her ability to manage her technology usage and stay focused on her recovery.
Moving Forward in Recovery
Working to improve her mental health is one part of your daughter’s life journey. Knowing how experiences and technologies in the modern age affect her will enable you to help her with this part of her journey. Addressing mental health and addiction means addressing the whole person. It also means working to show young women how to best care for themselves.
At Clearview Horizon Girls Academy, we focus on mental health care and improving our students’ abilities to take care of themselves. This means we value teaching girls the correct ways to engage with technology. Technology can be used as a tool for recovery rather than a form of addiction. Keeping your daughter accountable and focused on moving forward will help her succeed in her mental health journey.
Understanding the impact of technology on your daughter’s mental health can provide her with the best chance of recovery. As you become involved all parts of your daughter’s life, you can best help her maintain a healthy lifestyle. Technology and the internet can be helpful and impactful in our world, but it is important to notice when usage becomes harmful. Knowing when to intervene and assist with possible technology addiction is important. With awareness, you can help your daughter maintain a healthy and responsible relationship with technology and the internet. If you want to know more about how technology can impact your daughter’s mental health, get in touch with Clearview at 866-584-4788.
