Written by: A.K., 15

In recent years, mental health in teens has been on a decline. This is mostly due to the fact that teens have access to the constantly developing social media and cellular device world. On average, teens spend 7 or more hours a day on their phone, which leads to detrimental effects on their mental health. Too much screen time can cause sleep trouble, anxiety, depression, and many more mental and physical struggles. The normalization of the use of cellular devices and social media has created a world where technology that is supposed to help us, harms us.

I believe schools should start to help out with this issue. Districts should pass policies which allow for schools to have digital well-being programs which guide students to make healthy screen-time habits and give them a space to talk about their struggles. Mental health is not talked about or stressed enough in schools. Including trained professionals in the technology world to talk to students in schools would help improve teens’ decline in mental health. Tech companies should also pitch in and do their job by adding features that require or encourage breaks for teens under a certain age on social media apps. By doing this, many students who are addicted to their devices would be required to shut off their phone and do something to help their problems. My recommendation is that schools should incorporate trained professionals and programs into their systems that allow their students a place to talk about their problems while forming healthy habits with their devices. This would benefit students not only at school but could also help them with their home life. With the limits on their screen-time, more teens would discover new, fulfilling hobbies that enrich their minds instead of deteriorating them.

This recommendation would work to help the problem of teen mental health because of the way it would limit their screen time and access to social media. Because these things cause problems for teens, limiting them would make teens more confident and happy. By having a place for students to talk to trained professionals about their mental health struggles linked to their devices, these professionals could provide a personalized experience and plan to get the student back on track. All in all, this recommendation helps students limit screen time and talk about their problems, while also leading them to a happier and more fulfilling life.

This post was written by a TYP fellow in response to the following prompt: how would you address a current societal problem with a new policy or legal strategy?

Posts do not contain the TYP fellow’s name in order to prevent bullying, harassment, or online identification of the Youth Fellow.