doctor my son is spending too much time online he is constantly on instagram and facetime what should i do such questions have become a norm for most mental health practitioners who work with children and young adults most teenagers use social media accounts like facebook and instagram these days it keeps a person connected to friends across the globe and gives them a window into the lives of people they are connected withmultiple studies have shown that teenagers who use social media excessively do so because they are either bored need an escape from their immediate physical environment are feeling overwhelmed and stressed are lonely have few realtime friends or need to feel appreciated and validatedusing social media in moderation isnt bad in fact it can help boost serotonin and other feelgood chemicals in the brain and can help uplift a persons mood most people click a selfie of themselves and post it on social media and feel good about themselves when people like their post and comment on it it becomes a problem when this becomes a habit many people feel compelled to post photos of themselves multiple times a day and then keep checking their accounts for the number of likes they have receivedlets now go a little deeper and see the signs a person a parent or a loved one can look for to differentiate between social media usage and addiction we can safely say a person is addicted to social media when we can spot some of the following if a person is thinking about and talking about social media most of the time if they have formed a ritual of using social media multiple times a day if they are using social media instead of attending to other important things in their life if they are procrastinating on other important tasks and using social media instead if they get frustrated and throw anger tantrums if they are unable to use social media if there is a fear of missing out on life if they dont stay connected on social media if social media usage has affected their studies if they keep checking their social media accounts during conversations if a person avoids social events to be on social media if they lie about the time they spend on social media if they have not been able to reduce the time they spend on social mediaa few tips for parents the following things parents have found to be effective in teenage social media addiction discussing in a nonhostile and loving way with the teenager about their social media use keep reminding them that you are coming from a place of concern for their wellbeing help them to plan their day and follow the set schedule set a no mobile phone policy at different times of the daynight no cell phones during meal times while watching tv during family time and at bedtime set tasks that requires a person to be busy offline enrol