Social media expert Madison Cameron held an hour-long online seminar Monday for parents and guardians of students and says social media can be compared to an addiction for youth.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
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During an hour-long virtual presentation held for parents and caregivers of students, social media expert Madison Cameron told participants that today’s youth are constantly balancing three elements that make up their ‘social cycle’ which can influence how their peers perceive them and how they perceive their peers.
Cameron is a youth specialist who works for the Centre for Trauma Informed Practices. Through her work, Cameron says she is able to travel across Canada and the U.S. to host presentations on the topics of social media and technology to professionals, students, parents and caregivers.
Her presentation, titled ‘We’re not so different after all,’ aims to help parents and caregivers better understand what their child’s relationship with social media is and covers how social media affects children mentally and emotionally as well as how it changes the way they behave.
Throughout her research speaking with more than 10,000 students, Cameron says three main elements make up a child’s ‘social circle,’ including insecurity, social currency and FOMO, otherwise known as fear of missing out.
Cameron explained social media sites can encourage people to post “a highlight tape, much like sports, that is a showing of our best and brightest moments,” and can create insecurity among children who are continuously exposed to ‘unrealistic’ depictions of someone’s life.
In an example provided, Cameron says, “We are always comparing our behind the scenes, our struggles and trauma to people’s highlights. So much so that I think we’ve forgotten a little bit about the other 99 per cent of life that happens outside of a screen.”
That constant comparison can be impactful on children and sometimes make them feel like they need to act a certain way to gain acceptance and approval from others.
Cameron also discussed how today’s students use social currency, the number of likes and views ,or the number of followers a student has, as attributing to the value to that student.
“All of these things can become recorded transactions,” says Cameron. “Because not every child measures their self worth by validations and gratifications that don’t come from a screen these days.”
Cameron says some children, including those with low self-esteem, can be further impacted by a lack of engagement around their social media posts.
Citing another example, Cameron explained, “My mother said I was beautiful and perfect the way that I was, but that only accounted for one like in my mind. In order for me to believe that those things are true I need at least 100-plus likes and 10-plus comments under my posts.”
Cameron also spoke about how FOMO affects students who are disconnected from social media sites like Snapchat, Tiktok and YouTube, and how young people react when they spend time offline and are missing out, and what is happening online between peers.
Cameron compared this social media FOMO to an addiction to alcohol for youth.
“Through social media, there aren’t really any age restrictions for some of the addictions that youth may face. I want us to think about social media as a substance for just a moment.
“Now we have an entire generation with some kids growing up addicted, and they don’t have the skill set yet, when they suffer from stress or anxiety … to turn to a person, but instead they prefer to turn to their devices.”
