To fix social media, a Wash U student turns to her peers

As a young adolescent, Emma Lembke remembers being frustrated — even angered — by her parents’ hesitation over social media. She also began to feel left out as she interacted with peers who were often glued to their phones.

“I always asked myself, ‘Why are my friends opting to look down and keep their eyes down instead of looking up at me when we can have a plentiful, very fruitful conversation?’” Lembke recalled to St. Louis on the Air.

When she finally persuaded her parents to let her join Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram in sixth grade, she remembers being among the last of her friends to do so. But soon, she sensed her mental health deteriorating. She was spending four to five hours a day on the apps, scrolling and scrolling — and following as many people as she could.

“I really did buy into this myth [that] your social life can be fully kind of amplified, [that] if you go on these apps, you have this entire universe, this ‘metaverse’ per se, of connections out there, and they're waiting for you,” Lembke explained. “I bought into that false narrative.”

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2022-02-04/with-log-off-wash-u-student-gives-teens-a-voice-on-tech-issues