Listening to teens also empowers them to be more responsible, she says. Professor Blakemore argues that, during lockdowns, recognizing the importance of peer interaction via social media may be more beneficial to their mental health than simply telling them to get off screens and do something else. That includes listening to them about screen time. "We have to listen to young people and not just decide … what's stressing them out and what's causing low wellbeing," she says. Professor Blakemore says that we can help alleviate much of this stress and anxiety by taking their concerns more seriously. Through these studies, researchers have observed significant changes in the brains and behaviour of socially isolated mice and rats, including increased stress, anxiety, aggression, hyper-reactivity and a tendency toward addiction. ![]() "But we do know … that if you isolate mice and rats during their period of adolescence … that has more damaging effects on brain development, behavioural development and mental health than the same social isolation, either before adolescence or in adulthood." what we would call a natural experiment and not a very nice one," she explains. " has … never been studied rigorously in humans. Rodents' adolescent development progresses in similar stages to human development. The ethics of inflicting long periods of isolation on teens means that Professor Blakemore and her colleagues conducted their studies on mice and rats. This is a particular risk during lockdown. Without it, teens risk an underdevelopment of those critical social skills, which can lead to anxiety and depression, particularly if they don't have positive family relationships. ![]() This sensitivity helps young people's development and also helps them to foster a more complete sense of social self-identity. Teens are more sensitive to peer acceptance, rejection and approval than young children or adults. "We know that being isolated is a very big risk factor for mental health problems, actually, of all ages, but particularly in ," she says.Īccording to Professor Blakemore and others' research, adolescence is a period marked by a heightened need for social interaction. ![]() "From many years of research … we know that young people require social interaction and social learning in order for development to take place, and it also helps their mental health. While Professor Blakemore agrees that lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19 makes good public health sense, she argues that social isolation is potentially more damaging for developing brains than hours of screen time. "At least they can maintain communication with friends through social media and that might help to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of depriving them of face-to-face social interaction during this period of life," she says. And in some ways, that's a great reassurance because … their face-to-face social contact is really restricted ," she tells ABC RN's Big Ideas. " are very used to connecting with each other online. ![]() Despite my many desperate pleas for them to unplug at the end of the school day, my teens will now spend an additional three to four hours a day staring at a screen.īut Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Professor of Psychology at the University of Cambridge in the UK, says there may be a silver lining to all this screen time.
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