Clinical Psychologist explains the most important social media rule for parents

Well, this week meta announced it will make big changes to the way people under the age of 18 use instagram and facebook. And here's a look at what some of those changes will include two hour daily time limits for all users under the age of 18 likes will be turned off for teen social media accounts by default limits on cosmetic and extreme makeup beauty filters. No notifications during school hours or from 10 until seven in the morning and the apple shut off entirely for kids and teens between the hours of midnight and six o'clock to discuss the changes and whether or not they will work. Let's bring in dr kerry Mackinson. She's a clinical psychologist and author of the book digitally dysregulated. Thanks for being here this morning doctor. Thank you for having me. I want to get your sense first of the changes we just listed and mentioned. Which are you happiest about and which do you think are the most impactful? I think all these changes are important. The likes removing the likes is going to really help our kids take away that social validation and that social comparison that's taking a toll on their sense of self and their mental health. But what's important for parents to note is that while these are improvements, they do not, they do not take away all the harm of social media on their Children. Well, let's talk more about that for Children especially. How does consuming too much social media dysregulate their brains or shape their brains? It's important for parents to understand that these platforms were created with something called persuasive design and they took everything we know about psychology and merged it with technology to capture and hook attention. While your child is on a social media app, their emotional brain, their reward center is lighting up, becoming more overreactive, making them more emotional. Meanwhile, it's shunting blood flow away from their prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain parents want their kids to develop so that they have impulse control and can make good decisions. It's really a double whammy. Yeah. So what kind of consequences does that lead to? What? What are some examples of behavior problems that can be tied to excessive social media consumption? We're seeing a real decrease in a child's sense of self, their self esteem, their mental health. They're becoming more emotionally reactive and explosive. They're becoming more concerned about what their peers think about them, which has already been an issue going through adolescence, right? So these platforms are putting our Children at real risk during the most pivotal years of identity development and brain development. Some legal analysts are calling this settlement social media is quote big tobacco moment. It's a reference to the lawsuits against tobacco companies in the 19 nineties. After those lawsuits went through 30 years later, there was something like a 70 80% decline in smoking. Do you think this settlement and the consequences of this will end up leading to a decrease in social media consumption a generation from now? That is certainly the hope. You know, parents are not at fault for allowing their kids to use these devices and kids are not at fault for getting hooked to them. It's a really good product design and parents were lied to about the harms. But now that we know this settlement gives parents that validation that yes, these platforms are harmful to your child's development. One ruling is a headline three this year is a clearly established pattern. So now we know it's important to reduce the time your Children spend on these platforms or remove it entirely in order to protect your kids during the most critical years that they're growing after the settlement was announced. Metta said that this isn't going to work unless our competitors tiktok and snapchat and youtube do the same. Do you agree? And do you think there will be some significant changes for those platforms? I certainly hope there are significant changes for those platforms. This ruling is the beginning. It's not the end and we do need to engage all social media platforms. Social media is not entirely bad, but the algorithm and the addictive design is what's causing the harm. This settlement causes meta to pay and to make some changes, but it doesn't take away that addictive design. They're keeping that there for profits, but parents can step in and protect their kids by putting limits around these platforms so that they can develop the way they were meant to really quickly before we have to go. What is the most important limit or rule parents can set about social media in the meantime? If you do nothing else, remove all digital devices from behind closed doors and no digital devices charging in your parent in your child's room overnight, they should be in the parents room that will not only protect your child's sleep, but it will also keep them from the dangers that lurk while you are asleep. All right. Very good advice there. Dr Kerry Mackinson, clinical psychologist and the author of the book digitally dysregulated. We appreciate your insight this morning. Thanks for having me. Of course. Time now is