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The stress and anxiety teens experience can get in the way of their planning for a successful future.

Social media may help teens unwind when they're feeling emotionally overwhelmed.

Negative posts on social media can lead to doomscrolling and make it tough to focus on important goals.

There’s a lot for teens to be worried about these days. It seems every week there are stories that affect their futures. Whether it’s artificial intelligence (AI) eliminating jobs across the country, or the rising costs of education, health care, and housing, massive societal restructuring is taking place. At times, opportunities for the future can look pretty grim. With all of the variables that teens see in the society around them, is it surprising that many have significant anxiety when trying to plan their future goals?

There Was Often More Certainty in the Past

There was a time not that long ago when the pathway toward adulthood seemed pretty stable. People trained for careers that they could have for 30 or 40 years. Then, when they retired, there were pensions to take care of their financial needs for the rest of their lives. Today, that’s all changed. Few jobs still have pensions, and AI is coming for a large number of job categories. Prices keep rising, and college debt can keep a student impoverished for years. All of these stressors create a recipe for anxiety.

Stress and anxiety can significantly detract from a person’s ability to concentrate. It can cause a teenager to fixate on the myriad risks inherent in planning their future, which can be emotionally overwhelming. This can lead to emotional paralysis, where they become too stressed with everything they’re worrying about to take decisive action. Instead, they may look for some relief where they can let their minds focus on something else…something that does not require a lot of thought. This can include looking to social media for some relief, which is where doomscrolling starts.

Social Media Does Its Best to Keep You Scrolling

Social media companies have algorithms to target information of interest to the person doing the scrolling. As a result, teens find things of interest on these platforms, which then work at keeping them interested. Teens who are overwhelmed by their own anxiety may find social media to be a perfect distraction. It allows them to concentrate on something other than the bigger issues in their lives. Much like teens of earlier generations, who zoned out watching television, current teens may scroll endlessly on social media to avoid having to deal with the realities of their lives.

The problem is, much of what is presented to teens on social media is negative messaging. People complain, news stories highlight tragedies, politicians vilify their opponents, and before you know it, a person starts to see the world as more negative and dangerous.

Whether people turn to social media to avoid dealing with relationship issues, fear of the future, or any number of stressors that they encounter, once they start doomscrolling, it can become habit-forming. There’s always the next person’s negative opinion or the next tragedy, and each time a story is read, it can reinforce a person’s anxiety and sense of helplessness.

Staying Focused Is the Goal

Part of a teenager’s development is knowing how to focus on their goals and ways to achieve them. While social media may be a way to avoid thinking about real life and decisions that need to be made, it can also disempower teenagers. They may get lost in doomscrolling and not develop the tools they need to accomplish their goals. It’s important for teens to learn to focus, think through their issues, and ultimately rise above them.

Learning how to tackle their challenges can empower teens to recognize their ability to power through and reach their goals. While social media may be a way to decompress and reduce anxiety before tackling a problem, it can’t be an ultimate destination. The destination has to be the ability to create a fulfilling future for themselves to be able to achieve their goals and lead their best lives.

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