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Adolescent Development in the Digital Media Context

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Psychological Inquiry
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Adolescent Development in the Digital Media
Context
Jacqueline Nesi, Eva H. Telzer & Mitchell J. Prinstein
To cite this article: Jacqueline Nesi, Eva H. Telzer & Mitchell J. Prinstein (2020) Adolescent
Development in the Digital Media Context, Psychological Inquiry, 31:3, 229-234, DOI:
10.1080/1047840X.2020.1820219
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Adolescent Development in the Digital Media Context
Jacqueline Nesi
a,b
, Eva H. Telzer
c
, and Mitchell J. Prinstein
c
a
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island;
b
Bradley/
Hasbro Research Center, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island;
c
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, Rhode Island
Digital media has increasingly become a central feature in
the lives of adolescents, yet its impact on youthsdevelop-
ment and mental health remains poorly understood. Granic
et al. (this issue) contribute to a growing body of work that
aims to move away from prior emphases on overall screen
time,and instead to consider how and why digital media
use may alternatively promote or undermine adolescent
mental well-being. They present a theoretical framework,
drawing on principles of narrative identity development, as
a lens through which to understand the impact of digital
media on adolescents. Here, we offer an examination and
extension of the theoretical principles outlined by Granic
and colleagues, as well as a discussion of future directions in
this rapidly evolving field of research. We focus our discus-
sion on two key areas: (1) the need to distinguish between
online and offline contexts, and the potential for one to
transform the other; and (2) the concept of screen time,
and the need for greater complexity and nuance in models
of digital media effects.
Online and Offline Contexts
One critical theme that Granic et al. (this issue) highlight is
the concept of the hybrid reality,which they describe as
the offline world that is woven dynamically and inter-
actively with online contexts in a single holistic ecosystem
(p. 196). While it is certainly true that the boundary
between online and offline spaces is increasingly blurred, we
believe that two alternative conceptualizations are worthy of
further research: (1) that digital and offline spaces represent
distinct contexts that shape adolescentsbehavior, and (2)
that the digital context actually transforms the offline context
in ways that fundamentally change adolescentsexperiences.
Digital and Offline Spaces as Distinct Contexts
Granic et al. (this issue) argue that the hybrid realityof
online and offline contexts requires applying existing know-
ledge of developmental tasks to our understanding of adoles-
centsdigital experiences. In line with co-construction
approaches to understanding youthsInternet use
(Subrahmanyam, Smahel, & Greenfield, 2006;Subrahmanyam
& Greenfield, 2008), it is clear that adolescents create and co-
create their online environments to address basic develop-
mental needs, including identity formation, peer connection,
and autonomy. Yet while it is important to understand how
adolescentsonline experiences are reflective of longstanding
developmental tasks, it is equally important to differentiate
between new, digital contexts and the traditional, offline con-
texts that have historically informed adolescent development.
The idea that youth development occurs within a series
of interconnected contextsincluding family, school, peer,
and cultural settingsis not new (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).
Indeed, decades of work have considered how the features
of any given context, from family relationship dynamics to
classroom climate, impact adolescent development and men-
tal health. Of course, the fundamental developmental tasks
of adolescence remain relatively consistent across contexts:
adolescents may strive for autonomy and explore their iden-
tities in the classroom, at home, and among peers. However,
the features that differentiate these contexts are crucial, as
they shape adolescentsbehaviors, experiences, and, in many
cases, subsequent developmental outcomes. For example, in
the context of an adolescents homewith features that
might include parental rules and interaction with siblings
an adolescents behavior and experiences will be very differ-
ent than in the context of a party, where features may
include fewer rules and frequent interaction with peers. The
impact of these contexts on adolescentswell-being are likely
to differ as well, both in positive and negative ways.
Furthermore, a crucial task of adolescence is the develop-
ment of a cohesive self-concept (Harter, 2012). Adolescents
must learn to differentiate their behavior across contexts
according to prescribed social norms, while also reconciling
inconsistencies in their self-presentations (e.g., acting quiet
and shy in some contexts, but outgoing in others).
Prior work, including our own (boyd, 2010; Moreno &
Uhls, 2019; Nesi, Choukas-Bradley, & Prinstein, 2018;
Subrahmanyam & Smahel, 2011; Valkenburg & Peter, 2011),
has thus taken a contextual approachto consider the fea-
tures of the digital context that may shape adolescentsexpe-
riences. This work has often emphasized the ways in which
this digital context differs from traditional, in-person con-
texts; Granic et al. (this issue) similarly discuss the ways in
which digital contexts support or suppress identity
CONTACT Jacqueline Nesi jacqueline_nesi@brown.edu Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University,
Coro West, Ste 204, 1 Hoppin St, Providence, RI 02903, USA.
ß2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY
2020, VOL. 31, NO. 3, 229234
https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2020.1820219
development processes. A variety of important features of
the digital context have been identified, including the pub-
licness of interactions, the relative lack of interpersonal cues
(such as tone of voice and facial expressions), the perman-
ence of shared content, and the quantifiabilityof interac-
tions in the form of likes, views, and comments (boyd, 2010;
Moreno & Uhls, 2019; Nesi et al., 2018; Subrahmanyam &
Smahel, 2011; Valkenburg & Peter, 2011). While it is cer-
tainly the case that the online and offline worlds are increas-
ingly interwoven and interconnected, considering unique
features of these contexts and their influence on adolescent
behavior is essential.
Understanding digital and offline contexts as distinct
entities raises an important question: to what degree do
skills learned in the very specific setting of a digital environ-
ment translate to the offline world? Granic et al. (this issue)
describe the potential benefits of digital games that allow
youth to persevere through obstacles, build mastery, and
even confront psychological challenges. Yet the context of
an online game provides very specific featuresa tightly
controlled environment with limited interpersonal cues, a
degree of anonymity, and the ability to turn offat any
moment. On the one hand, this may allow youth to practice
building resilience in a safer context, and then apply these
skills to offlinechallenges, such as overcoming failures in
school or navigating in-person relationships. On the other
hand, it may be that the skills developed within online
spaces are purely digital, lacking applicability in youthsoff-
line lives. Taken a step farther, however, some may argue
that the applicability of such skills in the offline worldis
irrelevantperhaps certain in-person skills will become
increasingly obsolete as our lives are lived primarily online.
The degree to which skills built in digital environments car-
ryover into the offline worldand how much this matters
for adolescentslong-term healthy developmentwill be a
critical area of future research.
In addition, differentiating between digital and offline
contexts allows us to explore how these settings reciprocally
influence one another, just as we might consider the ways in
which experiences in one offline context (e.g., failing a test
at school) spillover into another offline context (e.g., getting
in trouble at home with parents). In regard to the digital
context impacting the offline, George and colleagues (2020)
have investigated online-to-offline spillover,or experiences
on social media that caused problems, arguments, or diffi-
culties within face-to-face contexts. Although George and
colleagues (2020) highlight the frequency (29%) with which
young adolescents perceive online-to-offline spillover of
online problems, the same conceptualization could apply to
online successes. For example, prior research has found that
youthsability to maintain existing friendships and form
new friendships via social media may spilloverto create
offline social benefits (Lee, 2009; Valkenburg & Peter, 2011).
While the concepts of online-to-offline spillover describe
ways in which distinctly online experiences may infiltrate
offline life, the reverse direction of effects has been explored
as well. For example, the concept of context collapse
(Marwick & boyd, 2011) reflects the idea of offline contexts
spilling over into online life. This phenomenon refers to a
common situation on social media in which individuals
from a variety of offline contexts (i.e., family, friends,
acquaintances) come together in a singular online audience,
creating unique challenges for the user as they navigate their
self-presentation.
Do Digital Contexts Transform Offline
Developmental Tasks?
We have discussed the utility of understanding offline and
digital spaces as distinct contexts that influence one another,
with features that shape adolescentsbehavior within each
setting. However, it is also worth considering the extent to
which the digital context actually transforms adolescentsoff-
line experiences and larger developmental processes. With
the digital context now an inescapable presence in youths
lives, the question becomes: have traditionally offline
developmental tasks evolved in fundamental ways? In regard
to identity development specifically, Granic et al. (this issue)
note that agency and communion are key factors affecting
identity development. They cite longstanding research high-
lighting the need for adolescents to achieve balance or
coherence between these factors as they mature (Erikson,
1959,1968), and it is assumed that the nature of this coher-
ence has remained constant in the digital age.
Yet it is possible that the features of social media have
altered or even transformed the balance between agency and
communion. For example, the fact that social media empha-
sizes public, sometimes self-promotional displays, as well as
the sense of anonymity to share ones opinion, may create
an environment in which agency is celebrated and rein-
forced. In fact, self-disclosure, which represents a key pro-
cess in asserting ones personal agency, may be facilitated
through digital platforms. The Internet Enhanced Self-
Disclosure Hypothesis (Valkenburg & Peter, 2009) draws on
earlier hyperpersonal computer-mediated communication
theories (Walther, 1996) to suggest that the relative
anonymity afforded by online environments may stimulate
self-disclosure. In turn, this can lead to higher quality rela-
tionships and well-beingwhich translates to offline func-
tioningdepending on characteristics of both the individual
and the online platform used. Indeed, more recent experi-
mental and neuroimaging research suggests that adolescents
self-disclosure can be inherently rewarding (Tamir &
Mitchell, 2012; Vijayakumar et al., 2020; Vijayakumar &
Pfeifer, 2020). With adolescentsgreater use of digital media,
and associated increases in highly rewarding self-disclosure
processes online, it may be that agency and independence
are increasingly valued among youth growing up in the
digital age. On the other hand, digital medias allowance for
immediate and frequent contact with peers may increase the
need for belonging, making communion a more strongly
valued piece of the coherence balance. It is possible that
master narrativesare shifting with increased reliance on
digital media, with new cultural values and norms being cre-
ated in the digital space.
230 COMMENTARIES
Beyond identity development, other developmental proc-
esses also may be transformed in the context of digital
media. Our prior work (Nesi et al., 2018) has highlighted
the potential for the meaning and experience of social rela-
tionships to be altered due to the influence of the digital
context. For example, social status has always been central
to adolescence, due to youthsincreased biological sensitivity
to peer evaluation and acceptance during this time period.
Yet with social media environments creating opportunities
for and encouragement of curated self-presentations, and
providing quantifiable feedback metrics (likes, followers,
comments), it may be that social status has taken on new
meaning and importance in the digital age (Nesi &
Prinstein, 2019). Another example may be found in the
domain of physical appearance, which represents a key facet
of adolescentsself-concept (Harter, 2012). Social media is a
unique context in which photos of ones self can be, and
are, shared at all hours of the day, and are immediately sub-
ject to othersfeedback. This emphasis on appearance may
transform adolescentsoffline experiences with appearance-
related behaviors and experiences. Choukas-Bradley, Nesi,
Widman, and Galla (2020) investigated Appearance-Related
Social Media Consciousness (ASMC), or the idea that
thoughts and behaviors reflecting concern about ones
appearance on social media may intrude on everyday, offline
experiences. Indeed, many adolescents report that, even
when they are alone, they imagine how they look in social
media photos and that, during offlinesocial events, they
are distracted by thoughts about how they may look in pho-
tos posted to social media.
With digital contexts potentially transforming adoles-
centsoffline experiences, the question arises as to whether
digital media environments can, and should, be responsible
for promoting developmental processes. For example, in
regard to narrative identity development, Granic et al. (this
issue) describe the potential for digital spaces to support, as
one example, the creation of a temporally coherent self-story
through FacebooksOn this Dayfeature. Certainly, the
incorporation of small design features (e.g., removing
likes,adding a button for easy reporting of problematic
content) may be critically important for decreasing social
comparison or ensuring safety among youth online. But
should social media and gaming tools be specifically
designed to support larger developmental processes, such as
building agency or helping piece together youths temporal
narrative? One could argue that, given the sheer amount of
time with which youth are engaged in digital spaces, the
promotion of these processes is criticaljust as it might be
in contexts like school or extracurricular activities.
Alternatively, it could be argued that youth have always
navigated these tasks on their own, piecing together experi-
ences from various contexts (school, family, peers, and now,
online) to shape a cohesive narrative identity outside the
bounds of a singular setting. Furthermore, if digital spaces
are designed to facilitate processes of identity development,
will they be capable of doing so? A critical feature of digital
spaces is that they are constructedusersbehavior is guided,
often unconsciously, by algorithms, prompts, storylines, and
design features. Perhaps the power of building ones narra-
tive identity rests in the ability to do it independently
deciding for oneself which events should be remembered
and integrated, and how best to overcome challenging situa-
tionsrather than within the confines of a technology com-
panys algorithm.
From Screen Time to Moderators and Mechanisms
Even the title of Granic et al.s (this issue) article reflects a
growing movement in the field to abandon the concept of
screen timealtogether, moving instead toward an
emphasis on how, why, and when digital media impacts
youth. We ourselves have argued elsewhere (see Prinstein,
Nesi, & Telzer, 2020) that the concept of screen timeis
oversimplified and does not reflect the intricacies of adoles-
centsuse of digital media, and that the examination of
mere main effects of overall screen time on adolescent
developmental outcomes has proven ineffective (Odgers &
Jensen, 2020). Yet we also believe that the treatment of the
construct of screen timerequires greater nuance, rather
than complete dismissal.
Understanding Screen Time
Both broader, theoretical frameworks and more narrow,
methodological improvements in the analysis of screen
timeare needed to reciprocally inform one another and
advance the field. At the methodological level, when studies
report on measures of digital media use time or frequency,
it is essential that screen time is clearly defined. Researchers
must carefully consider the type(s) of media included in
screen time measures (e.g., social media, digital games, gen-
eral smartphone use), the unit of measurement (e.g., hours
spent, number of phone pickups), and the accuracy of the
measurement (i.e., self-report versus more objective meas-
ures; see Prinstein et al., 2020).
Yet beyond questions of measurement, the issue of
whether screen time is, in fact, irrelevant in the current
digital landscape is an empirical one that would benefit
from further research. Two competing hypotheses can be
considered. On the one hand, it may be that screen time
represents an important moderator of the association
between specific online experiences and psychosocial out-
comes. Within this dose-response hypothesis, an adolescent
who is the victim of cyberbullying and who spends greater
time using digital media, thus garnering greater exposure to
that bullying, will experience more negative mental health
outcomes. Prior work has often implicitly put forth a dose-
response framework. For example, Granic et al. (this issue)
argue that digital contexts which support or amplify iden-
tity-relevant processes will promote mental health, which
could suggest that greater frequency of exposure to these
contexts will necessarily engender positive outcomes. On the
other hand, it may be that time truly is irrelevant, and that
the quality and valence of youthsdigital interactions are far
more important than the time spent in those interactions.
Perhaps the severity of a given cyberbullying encounter far
COMMENTARIES 231
outweighs the frequency with which an adolescent is
exposed to victimization. Similarly, there may not be a linear
association between time spent in identity-promoting
digital contexts and healthy development. It may be that
limited or gradual exposure to identity-promoting digital
contexts, or even a singular online identity-promoting
experience, is more beneficial for youth. Thus, while prior
main effects approaches to analyzing associations between
screen time and mental health outcomes have yielded lim-
ited progress (Odgers & Jensen, 2020), the consideration of
screen time within a more nuanced framework is critical.
Mechanisms and Moderators of Digital Media Effects
In addition to more careful treatment of the concept of
screen time,it is essential that studies continue to investi-
gate underlying mechanisms and moderators that influence
the association between digital media use and adolescent
development. Granic et al. (this issue) highlight a number of
important points in this regard. Critically, they note that the
same digital media mechanismsfrom opportunities for
personal expression, to exposure to a vast array of diverse
contentcan produce both positive and negative mental
health effects depending on two moderating factors. These
factors include (1) the digital context and (2) individual dif-
ferences. They propose two types of studies to investigate
these moderating factors. The first compares identity proc-
esses and mental health outcomes across different digital
contexts, and the second compares identity processes and
mental health outcomes from different individuals in the
same digital context.
In regard to the former, we believe that comparisons on
the basis of affordances or features of various digital con-
texts, rather than by platform, will be particularly fruitful
(e.g., Moreno & Uhls, 2019; Nesi et al., 2018). Within any
given digital media platform, there are likely possibilities for
a number of different activities and tools, such as private
messaging, live video chatting, and public posting of photos.
Each of these tools differs in the degree to which it encom-
passes certain features. For example, some tools are more
public (e.g., posting a photo) than others (e.g., sending a pri-
vate message). Some tools are more permanent (e.g., posting
on ones main feed) than others (e.g., posting a story),
some are more visual (e.g., sharing a photo or video) than
others (e.g., posting a comment), and some contain more
interpersonal cues (e.g., video chatting) than others (e.g.,
sending a text message). Examining how these features influ-
ence associations between digital media use and develop-
mental outcomes allows for continuity between various
platforms, and provides a framework for future investiga-
tions of emerging platforms. Further, as Granic et al. (this
issue) suggest, it allows for more specific comparisons of
functionally different activities (i.e., sharing a storyversus
a more permanent post) within a singular platform.
In regard to the exploration of individual differencesas
a moderator, we believe that the Differential Susceptibility
Model (Valkenburg & Peter, 2013) offers an important start-
ing point. Individual differences, based on dispositional,
developmental, and social factors, should be considered at
various stages of media effects models, including how youth
use digital media (i.e., specific behaviors and experiences), as
well as how youth interpret and respond (i.e., emotionally,
cognitively, and behaviorally) to those experiences. For
example, in our prior work, we have found significant gen-
der differences in uses of and responses to digital media
with girls more likely to report both positive (e.g., receiving
support or encouragement) and negative (e.g., feeling left
out or excluded) social media experiences (Nesi, Wolff, &
Hunt, 2019). We have also found that social status plays an
important role, with youth who are less popular among their
peers exhibiting fewer status-seekingonline behaviors
(Nesi & Prinstein, 2019), and also showing stronger associa-
tions between online social comparison behaviors and
depressive symptoms (Nesi & Prinstein, 2015).
Finally, while Granic et al. (this issue) emphasize identity
developmental as a core mechanism through which digital
experiences influence adolescent mental health, a number of
other mechanisms should be considered as well.
Developmental psychopathology approaches emphasize the
complex interplay of biological vulnerabilities and psycho-
social risk factors in shaping normal versus atypical develop-
mental trajectories (Cicchetti, 1993; Cicchetti & Rogosch,
2002). Various transdiagnostic risk and resilience factors for
the onset and maintenance of mental health problems have
been identified in the literature that may be particularly rele-
vant in digital contexts. For example, within the NIH
Research Domain Criteria Initiative, factors related to
reward processing, attention, impulsivity, inhibition, and
social communication have been implicated in a range of
internalizing and externalizing mental health concerns (Insel
et al., 2010). It may be that individual differences in neural
endophenotypessuch as heightened reward sensitivity
may determine the extent to which digital media influences
mental health outcomes during adolescence. Such biology by
environment interactions can help explain why some youth
develop psychopathology and others do not (Guyer, 2020).
For instance, we have shown that adolescents exposed to
more negative family and peer contexts report higher inter-
nalizing and externalizing symptoms, but only among ado-
lescents with high neurobiological sensitivity. Those with
low neurobiological sensitivity, on the other hand, are resili-
ent to their social environment (Rudolph et al., 2020; Tezler,
Jorgensen, Prinstein, & Lindquist, in press). Similarly, digital
media may influence youth non-uniformly, such that only
youth with susceptible endophenotypes will be vulnerable to
psychopathology in the context of digital media. Future
work should expand on Granic et al.s (this issue) frame-
work to consider these and other important processes that
likely contribute to adaptive and maladaptive outcomes in
the context of digital media use.
Conclusion
Adolescentsuse of digital media has the potential to create
new challenges, but also to promote healthy development.
In order to tease apart these complex processes, both
232 COMMENTARIES
theoretical and methodological advances are needed in the
field. It is critical that future work carefully consider distinc-
tions between online and offline contexts and the treatment
of screen time,and that it aims to uncover the mecha-
nisms by which social media alternative promotes or under-
mines well-being. Furthermore, moderators must be
considered both at the level of the individual, and the level
of the digital context. Granic et al. (this issue) have aimed
to integrate principles from personality, social, clinical, and
developmental psychology to shed new light on the theoret-
ical underpinnings of adolescent digital media use. Such
interdisciplinary perspectives, further integrating theories
from areas such as communications and media studies, will
be essential for better understanding the impact of digital
media on adolescent mental health.
Funding
This work was supported in part by grants from the American
Foundation for Suicide Prevention [PDF-010517] and National
Institute of Mental Health [K23MH122669] awarded to Dr. Nesi, and
in part by the Winston Family Initiative for the Study of Technology
and Adolescent Development, co-directed by Dr. Telzer and Dr.
Prinstein. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations
expressed in this material are solely the responsibility of the authors
and do not necessarily represent these funding sources.
ORCID
Jacqueline Nesi http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5869-6360
Eva H. Telzer http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2351-6339
Mitchell J. Prinstein http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7587-8665
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... These program tactics will be more engaging if they combine many platforms, and behavior modification strategies that are conducted utilizing digital technology will incorporate numerous platforms. They are evaluated based on how they engage with and react to their utilization [25]. On the other hand, being exposed to and participating in the use of digital media platforms can affect people's lives, whether it be physically or emotionally [25]. ...
... They are evaluated based on how they engage with and react to their utilization [25]. On the other hand, being exposed to and participating in the use of digital media platforms can affect people's lives, whether it be physically or emotionally [25]. Research on the subject of digital media platforms is intriguing because it has the potential to generate a lasting competitive edge for these platforms [26]. ...
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A digital media platform can enhance students’ motivation and help them learn new abilities to further their English communication skills. They can utilize it to improve their English communication skills through their mobile phones for lifelong learning and to integrate digital media technology into their study and work worldwide, developing 21st-century abilities and skills. This study aimed to create a digital media platform, improve students’ English communication skills, and study students’ satisfaction with using the digital media platform through mobile language learning. A sample of 107 students participated in the self-learning of English for Daily Life Communication course, which was selected using a simple random sampling technique. The digital media platform included videos and practices of 20 contents about English communication for daily life. The experiment was carried out for five weeks. The research instruments included digital media platform, a pre- and post-test, and a satisfaction questionnaire. The data were statistically analyzed by mean and standard deviation. The results revealed that the students improved their English communication skills at the .005 significance and were satisfied at a mean of 4.31. It concludes that the digital media platform benefits by enhancing the students based on their findings on improving their English communication skills and overall satisfaction. Additionally, both the educators and students are supported in achieving successful foreign language learning through mobile technology.
... The status they gain from social media increases their perceived self-concept. [9] Need for the study ...
... GHQ comprised 28 questions with Likert-type responses: all the time = 5, most of the time = 4, some of the time = 3, a little of the time = 2, and none of the time = 1. It measured the mental health of mothers using somatic symptoms (items: 1-7), anxiety/insomnia (items: [8][9][10][11][12][13][14], social dysfunction (items: [15][16][17][18][19][20][21], and severe depression (items: 22-28). [14] Statistical analysis Data were tabulated in Microsoft Excel and analyzed in SPSS 20 (IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., USA). ...
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Background Smartphone use has significantly increased among adolescents for nonacademic purposes. The study aimed to assess cyberslacking and psychological distress among male and female school-going adolescents and its effects on mothers’ mental health. Methods This cross-sectional study involved 532 school-going adolescents and their mothers through purposive sampling. A sociodemographic data sheet, academic cyberslacking scale, K10 psychological distress scale, and general health questionnaire were used to collect data from adolescents and mothers. Results The study showed that accessing online content and sharing are the most common online activities among participants, at 61.84% and 44.55%, respectively. The mean score of domains of cyberslacking, including sharing ( P = 0.001), shopping ( P = 0.001), real-time updating ( P = 0.001), accessing online content ( P = 0.001), and gaming ( P = 0.001), were significantly higher among male adolescents than female. In contrast, psychological distress was slightly higher among female adolescents. Concerning mothers’ mental health, adolescents’ psychological distress was positively associated with mothers’ somatic symptoms ( r = 0.117*, P = 0.007), anxiety ( r = 0.183*, P = 0.005), and depression ( r = 0.102*, P = 0.018). Shopping ( r = 0.113*, P = 0.003) and updating content on social media ( r = 0.185*, P = 0.005) also increased depression in mothers. Logistic regression exhibited that age ( P = 0.011, odds ratio [OR]: 1.346), online gaming ( P = 0.001, OR: 0.890), and shopping in adolescents ( P = 0.001, OR: 0.946) predicted somatic symptoms, anxiety, and depression in mothers. Conclusion Cyberslacking is associated with increased psychological distress and depression. Cyberslacking in adolescents correlated with depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms in mother.
... The process of identity development, which encompasses identity exploration and commitment and ideally results in a stable self-concept, with identity distress as the less favorable outcome, has been rooted in the relationships with family, peers, and school (Kroger, 2006), with research also largely focusing on these contexts. However, contemporary young people have expanded their social contexts through social media (Nesi et al., 2020). This expansion offers users various modes of interaction, either one-directional or multi-directional, where they can consume and create content, and receive feedback. ...
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Social media have become a new context for adolescent identity development. However, it is challenging to build a thorough understanding of how social media and identity development are related because studies refer to different facets of social media engagement and use diverse concepts related to identity. This review synthesizes research on the relationships between quantity and quality of social media use and different dimensions of identity development, including identity exploration and commitment, self-concept clarity, and identity distress. The search conducted across four databases yielded 4,467 records, of which 32 studies were included in the analysis, comprising 19,658 adolescents with a mean age of 16.43 years (SD = 1.81) and an age range of eight to 26 years. Active participation in social media, rather than the amount of time spent on it, was associated with more identity exploration. Authenticity on social media, not idealized self-presentation, correlated with higher self-concept clarity. Additionally, adolescents who engaged in comparisons on social media demonstrated higher levels of identity exploration and identity distress. Overall, it seems to matter more for identity development what young people do on social media than how much time they spend on it.
... Numerous digital technology-based behavior modification strategies have been used, including the use of numerous channels (including text messaging, social media, and apps) and program start programs (such as social media service organizations and personalized coaching). Increasing these tactics' frequency, intensity, engagement, and feedback frequency, intensity, engagement, and feedback of these tactics might improve their efficacy (Nesi et al., 2020). ...
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There is a need for evaluations to help us understand the associations found in research on special education and new media. The researcher in this study explores the role of digital media in public education, with a specific emphasis on the role of digital media in the education of students with special needs and other types of disabilities. We used qualitative studies for our investigation. Under this pedagogical framework, it will provide helpful materials for digital media teachers and students who may not be fully aware of the benefits and significance of special education in the context of digital media instruction and education. Because there aren't enough studies on the subject, the sample size for this article is 12. The special edition on digital media and educational technology-based education for children with impairments. Initially, the selected pieces were dispersed in 2020 and 2022. Information required for the review's assessment was assembled by classifying the collected data according to the review's rubric. The review is the most useful tool for this assessment since it provides the best method for arranging both large amounts of data and personal judgments. In addition to describing how instructors and library media workers may work together to address the needs of children with disabilities, this article gives an overview of both physical and digital access to the library's resources. Research conducted by specialists has shown a positive correlation between all of these biomarkers.
... Introduction Adolescent Internet use is a social phenomenon and public health consideration worldwide. It neutrally refers to adolescents' utilization of the Internet and its services, which has both quantitative (time, frequency, etc.) and qualitative (venue, device, platform/app, activity, etc.) attributes [1,2]. Compared with qualitative Internet use that elaborates on how adolescents use the Internet and what they do online, quantitative Internet use focuses on the amount of Internet use by adolescents. ...
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Introduction In the digital era, the Internet has become a necessity in adolescents’ daily lives. Many studies globally are exploring the influences of Internet use on adolescent development, but they focus on the negative impacts of simplistic “screen time” on adolescents’ physical and mental health, rather than both positive and negative influences of multifaceted Internet use on multidimensional adolescent development. Specifically in rural China, adolescents live in disadvantageous and marginalizing contexts, and Internet use is widespread among this population. However, knowledge on Internet use and adolescent development in rural China is fragmented. It is still unclear in what ways Internet use would bring benefits or risks for Chinese rural adolescents’ healthy growth. Therefore, the objective of this scoping review is to identify the current research landscape, gaps, and future directions in rural China contexts. It aims to provide a comprehensive overview of elements, findings, and limitations in existing empirical studies on the influences of Internet use on adolescent development in rural China. Materials and methods The standard for conducting this scoping review is the five-stage model proposed by Arksey and O’Malley, and the reporting standard is the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The overall research question is: What are the influences of Internet use on adolescent development in rural China? In consultation with librarians, to locate articles, subject headings (controlled vocabularies) and textwords (keywords) in article titles, abstracts, and author-assigned keywords will be searched in APA PsycInfo (psychology), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (interdisciplinary), Communication Abstracts (media and communication), Education Source (education), MEDLINE (public health), Social Services Abstracts (social work), Social Work Abstracts (social work), and Sociological Abstracts (sociology). The review process via Covidence will consist of two sequential steps based on inclusion/exclusion criteria: the title and abstract review and the full-text review. Then study characteristics and research findings will be charted, and the results will be analyzed and synthesized quantitatively and qualitatively via visualizations and narratives, guided by the typological frameworks of Internet use and adolescent development. Discussion The scoping review will be a pioneering review to inform the current research landscape and gaps in the Internet use influences on adolescent development in rural China. It will advance the research agenda on this issue conceptually, theoretically, and empirically. In addition, it can provide contextual implications for designing prevention and intervention programs.
... This paper examines young people's social media use from a socio-ecological evolutionary approach (SEE approach). In doing so, it addresses repeated calls for interdisciplinary theories and conceptual models to guide social media research with young people that are context-sensitive, and that consider how individual, interpersonal, technological, and broader socio-cultural factors interact to influence young people's social media activities and their developing identities and well-being (Nesi et al., 2020;Orben, 2020;Sarmentio et al., 2020;Tibber and Silver, 2022). Following a brief introduction to the SEE framework, delimiting its applicability to social media research with young people, the paper is divided into two main sections. ...
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Research investigating young people’s social media use has been criticized for its limited theoretical foundations and scope. This paper elaborates young people’s social media activity from a socio-ecological evolutionary perspective (SEE), where young people’s online exchanges cannot be divorced from the highly competitive and achievement-oriented modern market cultures in which they live. In highly competitive and achievement-oriented forms of life, young people’s social media environments are often constituted as dynamic and evolving extrinsically oriented ecological niches that afford for status and identity enhancement while also affording for peer approval, belongingness, and self-worth nested within, and subordinate to, these higher-order affordances. The extrinsic value organization of social media platforms that serve young people’s status and identity-enhancement are embodied by a community of mutually interdependent criteria that are evolutionary-based, developmentally salient, and market-driven: physical attractiveness, high (educational and extracurricular) achievements, and material success. Young people’s online signaling of these interdependent extrinsic criteria affords for status-allocation and self-enhancement, where each criteria becomes an arena for social competition and identity formation, enabling young people to build personal and optimal models of social success congruent with their own interests and abilities. Young people’s status and identity enhancing signaling of these extrinsic criteria is moving toward increasingly idealized or perfect embodiments, informed by accelerating, short-term positive feedback processes that benefit from the technological affordances and densely rewarding peer environments instantiated on social media.
... Recent reviews (e.g., Keles et al., 2020;O'Day & Heimberg, 2021) suggest that these inconsistent findings may be partially explained by an over-reliance on measures of sheer frequency of digital media use that fail to capture digital media use in relation to face-to-face interactions, as well as social-emotional nuances of youth's online behavior (e.g., Nesi et al., 2020). Several features of digital media use are fundamentally different that face-to-face interactions, including greater perceived controllability driven by asynchronicity of interactions (Nesi et al., 2018a(Nesi et al., , 2018b. ...
Article
Adolescence is a period of profound biological and social-emotional development during which social anxiety symptoms commonly emerge. Over the past several decades, the social world of teens has been transformed by pervasive digital media use (e.g., social media, messaging apps), highlighting the urgent need to examine links between digital media use and mental health. Prior work suggests that a preference to use digital media to communicate emotions, rather than face-to-face contexts, is associated with emotion regulation vulnerabilities. Difficulties with emotion regulation are a hallmark of elevated anxiety, and the maturation of frontal-subcortical circuitry underlying emotion regulation may make adolescents especially vulnerable to the possible detrimental effects of digital media use. The current study leveraged an emerging neurophysiological correlate of emotion regulation, delta-beta coupling, which captures cortical-subcortical coherence during resting state. We test links among digital media use preferences, delta-beta coupling, and anxiety symptoms with a sample of 80 adolescents (47 females; 33 males) ages 12–15 years (M = 13.9, SD = 0.6) (80% White, 2% Black/African American, 16% more than one race, 2% Hispanic/Latine). Youth had their EEG recorded during 6 min of resting-state baseline from which delta-beta coupling was generated. Youth self-reported their social anxiety symptoms and preferences for digital media use vs face-to-face modalities. Greater digital media use preferences for both positive and negative social-emotional communication were associated with elevated social anxiety symptoms indirectly through high delta-beta coupling. This suggests that neural regulatory imbalance may be a pathway through which adolescents’ habitual preferences for digital media use over face-to-face communication relate to elevated social anxiety.
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Appearance-related social media consciousness (ASMC) is defined as the extent to which individuals’ thoughts and behaviors reflect ongoing awareness of whether they might look attractive to a social media audience. In this 3-study paper, we report the development and validation of the ASMC Scale for adolescents. In Study 1, we developed 18 items and received input from adolescent focus groups and content experts, resulting in 13 items. In Study 2, we administered these items to a high school sample (N = 1227; 51.8 % girls; Mage = 15.72), completing an exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis on two split halves. Results supported a single-factor solution with configural, metric, and partial scalar gender invariance. In Study 3, we administered the scale to a second high school sample (N = 226; 58.4 % girls; Mage = 16.25). ASMC scores demonstrated strong internal consistency, convergent and incremental validity, and test-retest reliability (measure re-administered for n = 207). Higher ASMC was associated with higher depressive and disordered eating symptoms, controlling for time on social media, gender, race/ethnicity, and body surveillance. Girls reported higher mean scores than boys. Findings support the use of this 13-item scale in reliably assessing adolescents’ ASMC, which may have important implications for mental health in the age of social media.
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Odgers and Jensen’s (Annual research review: Adolescent mental health in the digital age: Facts, fears, and future directions, Wiley‐Blackwell, 2020) review compellingly suggests that a rapid increase in the number of hours adolescents now dedicate to digital media use over the past decade may not be associated with concomitant changes in the prevalence of adolescent mental health disorders. Yet, there are many unexplored questions that deserve attention to fully understand how adolescents’ use of digital media has transformed social experiences and adolescent development. In this commentary, we offer an agenda for researchers interested in examining digital media use within a broader developmental psychopathology framework. Specifically, we discuss past theories and emerging findings suggesting both deleterious and beneficial effects of digital media use, a need for greater semantic clarity in the field, and a call for greater methodological precision to fully capture concurrent and prospective associations between digital media use and adjustment. In addition, we suggest that it may be fruitful to dedicate less research attention toward the number of hours that adolescents spend using technology, and more on what specific behaviors teens engage in online. Moreover, more work is needed to understand individual vulnerability or resiliency factors that may impact online experiences. We review opportunities for future work on digital media use that may integrate findings from developmental social neuroscience and also discuss a need to investigate how adolescents’ online behavior may be affecting developmental competencies offline. Adolescents’ use of digital media is rapidly changing, and this is an important, yet challenging topic that deserves attention from investigators who study adolescent adjustment.
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Adolescence is often defined as a period of social reorientation, characterized by increased engagement with, and reliance on, same-aged peers. Consistent with these shifting motivations, we hypothesized that communicating information about oneself to friends would be intrinsically valued during adolescence. We specifically examined behavioral and neural differences when sharing information of varying depth in intimacy. These questions were investigated in a sample of early adolescent girls (N = 125, ages 10.0-13.0 years) who completed a self-disclosure monetary choice task while undergoing fMRI. Behaviorally, adolescents gave up more money to share superficial self-referential information than intimate self-referential information with a (real-life) close friend. Neural analyses identified extensive engagement of regions that support social cognition and emotion regulation when engaging in intimate self-disclosure. Behavioral and neural valuation of sharing superficial information were related to individual differences in self-worth and friendship quality. Comparatively, across all levels of analyses, adolescents were less likely to share intimate information. Findings highlight both the value and costs associated with self-disclosure during this time of increased peer sensitivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Adolescents are spending an increasing amount of their time online and connected to each other via digital technologies. Mobile device ownership and social media usage have reached unprecedented levels, and concerns have been raised that this constant connectivity is harming adolescents’ mental health. This review synthesized data from three sources: (a) narrative reviews and meta‐analyses conducted between 2014 and 2019, (b) large‐scale preregistered cohort studies and (c) intensive longitudinal and ecological momentary assessment studies, to summarize what is known about linkages between digital technology usage and adolescent mental health, with a specific focus on depression and anxiety. The review highlights that most research to date has been correlational, focused on adults versus adolescents, and has generated a mix of often conflicting small positive, negative and null associations. The most recent and rigorous large‐scale preregistered studies report small associations between the amount of daily digital technology usage and adolescents’ well‐being that do not offer a way of distinguishing cause from effect and, as estimated, are unlikely to be of clinical or practical significance. Implications for improving future research and for supporting adolescents’ mental health in the digital age are discussed.
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Adolescents’ use of social media (SM) has increased drastically in recent years, with more than 80% of teens now belonging to sites such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. ¹ This has critical implications for youths’ psychosocial development. Research increasingly supports a differential susceptibility model of media effects, ² whereby certain adolescents show increased risk for negative effects of SM use. Emerging research with community samples of youth suggest that mental health concerns may be one factor that heightens vulnerability to adverse SM experiences. In particular, youth with internalizing symptoms are more likely to report negative emotional responses to SM activity. ³ In addition, youth with suicidal thoughts or behaviors are more likely to experience cybervictimization, and may be at risk for exposure to suicide-related SM content. ⁴ Despite this preliminary evidence, almost no research to date has examined SM use among youth with clinically severe psychiatric presentations. This has significantly limited our understanding of a central feature in the lives of youth with mental illness. To address this limitation, we examined SM experiences among a large sample of psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents. We sought to determine the prevalence of positive and negative SM experiences in this population, and to explore differences in SM use based on diagnostic presentation.
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Social media use among adolescents is nearly ubiquitous. Researchers, educators and parents may find the ever-shifting landscape of social media challenging to understand. In this Educational Piece, we describe an affordances approach. Applying an affordances approach to social media can advance our understanding of social media as a set of functions rather than brand name platforms. We present an affordances approach alongside the critical developmental tasks of adolescence. Our goal is to advance our thinking and standards in communicating about social media and adolescents to inform better research and program design.
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Although peer influence is a strong predictor of adolescents' risk-taking behaviors, not all adolescents are susceptible to their peer group. One hundred and thirty-six adolescents (Mage = 12.79 years) completed an fMRI scan, measures of perceived peer group norms, and engagement in risky behavior. Ventral striatum (VS) sensitivity when anticipating social rewards and avoiding social punishments significantly moderated the association between perceived peer norms and adolescents' own risk behaviors. Perceptions of more deviant peer norms were associated with increased risky behavior, but only for adolescents with high VS sensitivity; adolescents with low VS sensitivity were resilient to deviant peer norms, showing low risk taking regardless of peer context. Findings provide a novel contribution to the study of peer influence susceptibility.
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The rates of onset for several forms of psychopathology peak during adolescence, which coincides with the refinement of brain circuitry attuned to expanding social‐contextual interactions, stressors, and settings. Although some adolescents experience mental health difficulties, most do not develop significant problems. Conceptual work suggests that brain‐based individual differences in adolescents’ neurobiological susceptibility to their social contexts play a role in the development of psychopathology and well‐being. In this article, I summarize evidence supporting the idea that individual differences in brain structure and function moderate the relation between adolescents’ social‐contextual experiences and psychopathology. I discuss why this approach is important in developmental research designed to identify adolescents at greatest risk for psychopathology or poised for positive outcomes, as well as those who may benefit most from intervention.
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Objective: To examine the cross-sectional associations between young adolescents' access, use, and perceived impairments related to digital technologies and their academic, psychological, and physical well-being. Study design: There were 2104 adolescents (ages 10-15 years), representative of the North Carolina Public School population, who completed questionnaires in 2015. Administrative educational records were linked with parental consent. Results: Nearly all young adolescents (95%) had Internet access, 67% owned a mobile phone, and 68% had a social media account. Mobile phone ownership was not associated with any indicators of well-being (math and reading test scores, school belonging, psychological distress, conduct problems, or physical health) after controlling for demographic factors. Having a social media account and frequency of social media use were only robustly associated with conduct problems (explaining ∼3% of the variation in conduct problems). Despite the lack of strong associations, 91% of adolescents reported at least 1 perceived technology-related impairment and 29% of adolescents reported online-to-offline spillover of negative experiences. Economically disadvantaged adolescents reported similar access, but greater online-to-offline spillover and stronger associations between social media account ownership and poor psychological well-being compared with their more affluent peers. Conclusions: At the population level, there was little evidence that digital technology access and use is negatively associated with young adolescents' well-being. Youth from economically disadvantaged families were equally likely to have access to digital technologies, but were more likely than their more affluent peers to report negative online experiences. Closing the digital divide requires prioritizing equity in experiences and opportunities, as well as in access.
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Sharing information about oneself, or self-disclosing, is a fundamental interpersonal process that facilitates the attainment of key developmental milestones during adolescence. Changes in self-disclosure behaviors may reflect or support the social reorientation that sees children become increasingly reliant on peers for social and emotional support. Neuroimaging research has highlighted protracted maturation of the structure and function of brain regions that support social cognitive and reward processes underlying self-disclosure during adolescence. This review explores behavioral and neural trends in self-disclosure during adolescence, including research that uses novel experimental paradigms to extend the field beyond self-report measures. Findings show that certain aspects of self-disclosure behavior have adapted to changing social environments, but they remain intrinsically valued across the adolescent period and are essential for relationship development, identity formation and overall self-worth and well-being.