Before the pandemic, the idea of communicating with a therapist via text seemed unthinkable. Then COVID closures and an unprecedented surge in changed everything.

I know what a difference it makes for teens because I talk to them almost every day.

I am a therapist who works for , New York City鈥檚 free mental health service connecting young people with licensed multilingual therapists through the secure (and ) platform Talkspace. This effort is breaking down barriers to mental health care, especially for those who may struggle to find a therapist who meets their needs.

The program, launched a year ago this month by Mayor Eric Adams and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, is available to anyone ages 13 to 17 living in New York City, regardless of their school, immigration status, income level, or insurance status. No payment or insurance information is required.

While we ask all teens to share a parent or guardian鈥檚 information so that they can provide consent, in special circumstances, permits waiving that requirement, for example when the young person is emancipated, incarcerated, or if notification is deemed detrimental to their well-being. That is something that the licensed therapist assesses.

For many teens, it鈥檚 the first time they鈥檝e ever talked with a therapist. And my goal is to create a space where teens feel like they can be themselves. Asking questions, staying curious, and not making assumptions are key to helping young people feel supported.

While many of our interactions are asynchronous and over text, I always encourage a live face-to-face video session or offer to send asynchronous audio or video messages. I want them to know that it鈥檚 OK to ask questions that can help them better understand therapy, mental health, themselves, and how to advocate for their needs.

They鈥檙e often curious to learn about depression, ADHD, PTSD, and other diagnoses they may have heard about or from their friends. Sometimes, they ask if I鈥檓 a real human or if I鈥檓 AI. They like hearing that I grew up in New York, in the Bronx and Yonkers, that I have a cat, and the types of music I enjoy.

Teens may be experiencing anxiety or depression, or they may be grieving. But they don鈥檛 need to be experiencing symptoms of mental illness or living with loss to participate. They may be navigating a new relationship or breakup, adjusting to changes in their family dynamics, or experiencing uncertainty about what they want to do after high school.

We talk about what鈥檚 causing them stress and what will improve their quality of life. It鈥檚 rewarding when I hear from a teen client who has tried a technique we鈥檝e practiced, like deep breathing, , , or communication skills, and found that it works. From my experience, teens are more likely than adults to share their progress as it鈥檚 happening, rather than to reflect on it several months later.

How effective is NYC Teenspace? More than 16,000 teens have signed up for the service so far. that 65 percent of users reported improvement in their mental health, and that number is growing. Underserved neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx lead the city in signups, and 60 percent of users identify as Black or Hispanic.

Going forward, I hope to see even more teens using it, especially boys. shows that teenage girls have been more than three times as likely to seek help on the platform. We have work to do to increase reach to teen boys, who may encounter more .

Still, I鈥檓 astonished by telehealth鈥檚 ability to promote strong connections with users, particularly Gen Z. These digital natives communicate effortlessly through text and other online media. They express themselves in ways an adult patient typically wouldn鈥檛. They share photos of their pets, selfies, memes, audio clips 鈥� and, yes, lots of emojis 鈥� offering glimpses into their world that enrich the therapeutic process.

NYC Teenspace therapists can communicate in 13 different languages, and the platform uses translation support in 120 languages.

No matter what their language, teens tend to find on-demand messaging a more comfortable, accessible option in which to open up about their challenges in ways they might find difficult IRL. Between school, commuting, extracurriculars, and other responsibilities, some teens have avoided therapy because it has been challenging to get to an in-person appointment. Having a private space can often be a challenge for any New Yorker, and this is no different for teens. More than half of all users prefer exclusively engaging with their therapist via messaging.

The current is 1 for every 272 students, and there are even fewer licensed mental health professionals. Last year, nearly in New York City reported experiencing mild to severe depressive symptoms. They worry about the future or something bad happening to them or to their families, which may be a sign of anxiety.

Skeptics of therapy in a digital space may say that the experience of in-person treatment can鈥檛 be replicated. In some instances, this is true. However, therapy that can happen via telehealth can connect with teens in a way that meets their needs. As any teen today can tell you, messaging is how they communicate with their closest friends. Online therapy is also much easier than in-person appointments to scale amid unprecedented teen mental health needs.

As with any treatment, it鈥檚 important to know the limitations. NYC Teenspace therapists are responsible for assessing clients for risks, including risks to themselves or others. If a teen presents with significant concerns like self-harm or suicidality, their therapist is expected to share resources, make appropriate referrals, and intervene as needed to ensure safety.

For the majority of teens who are not in crisis, NYC Teenspace offers a vital space where they can explore their emotions, develop coping strategies, and build resilience. These are skills they can bring with them as they grow into adulthood.

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at .

At , we advocate for a safety-first approach, aligning with the surgeon general鈥檚 advisory on . We know young people find community online. What we鈥檙e hoping is that they find safe communities 鈥� and it鈥檚 time to insist that platforms prioritize children鈥檚 safety. That’s why JED has endorsed the , which requires social media platforms to protect young users by enabling them to protect their personal information, turn off addictive product features and opt out of receiving recommendations made by algorithms.

The bill would also require social media companies to address and minimize mental health risks to young people by more effectively controlling content that encourages self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse and sexual exploitation. In addition, it would ensure that academic researchers and nonprofit organizations can access essential datasets in order to further explore the links between youth social media use and mental health.  

The purpose of social media platforms, like all companies, is to pursue profit, which is why they cannot regulate themselves. There needs to be more transparency and accountability, especially when it comes to products used by minors. Here are some steps that JED recommends Congress take:

Establish a regulatory agency exclusively dedicated to safeguarding digital and online safety.

Social media companies made in revenue advertising to Americans under 18 in 2022 and remain one of the only unregulated industries marketing to minors. During the hearing, bipartisan support surfaced for creating a regulatory agency. Executives from major social media platforms, including X, Meta, Snap, Discord and TikTok, expressed openness to the idea. The agency would ensure that these companies comply with safety regulations, are held accountable for violations and prioritize the well-being of users in both practice and policy.

Support federal regulations designed to limit the harmful aspects of social media and maximize protections of users.

Social media companies should be required to leverage algorithms to surface supportive mental health content, build in time limits and digital breaks for young users, and seek out and and ban content that encourages harmful behaviors, including suicide, self-injury, eating disorders and cyberbullying. It is also crucial that platforms reduce features that encourage overuse, such as video autoplay, push notifications and rewards for  engaging online.

Invest in high-quality, large-scale research into interventions, protective policies, and the short- and long-term effects of social media on mental health.

While Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that studies linking social media use and mental health issues in teens do not show cause and effect, from exposure to harmful content and cyberbullying, as well as chronic online engagement. Social media platforms also utilize tools that encourage young people to compare themselves to others, which has been . 鈥滾ikes,鈥� follower counts and viewership rates all push users to value their personal worth based on these comparisons.

Much is known about social media and mental health, but there is also a lot yet to be discovered. The current research is insufficient because platforms are not required to share data. This is why a safety-first approach is so important. Collaboration between technology companies and independent researchers is an essential next step in understanding how social media use affects youth mental health.

Require social media companies to establish and implement data transparency policies.

Social media has been around for more than 20 years, and still there is a lack of clarity about how each platform operates. It鈥檚 essential that these companies make clear to young users what factors 鈥� such as engagement 鈥渟treaks鈥� on Snap or autoplay on Instagram 鈥� shape their online experiences; give them more autonomy in choosing the type of content that appears in their feeds; and provide parents and caregivers with greater control to tailor their children鈥檚 experiences. 
Young people spend a large portion of their lives on social media. They need to be able to do so without serious risk of harm. There is bipartisan support for creating change in the industry 鈥� and unanimous support for the bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee. With that momentum, there is a clear opportunity to make youth well-being and mental health a priority. Youth mental health advocates have a responsibility to hold companies accountable, eliminate what is harmful and ensure a positive, safe social media experience for all young people.

Girls, who have been shown to to the psychological harms of social media, spend even more time on the apps than boys (an average of 5.3 hours a day vs. 4.4 hours for boys) and the platforms consume more of teenagers鈥� lives as they move through high school: 4.1 hours a day on average for 13-year-olds compared to 5.8 hours for 17-year-olds. 

The data collected from 6,643 parents and 1,591 of their adolescent children between June and July also identified factors that can loosen social media鈥檚 grip: Teens who scored high on conscientiousness as it relates to self-control and regulation spent less time on the apps as did those living with parents who restricted their screen time. Those kids were on social media 1.8 hours less a day on average than their peers whose parents strongly disagreed with curtailing screen time. 

The survey was accompanied by a  by Gallup and the Institute for Family Studies looking more closely at how parenting and self-control can mediate the link between social media use and youth mental health. Both come some five months after the U.S. surgeon general warned that social media poses a profound risk to children and the same month that , saying it designed features to hook children and lied about its platforms鈥� safety.

Meta owns three of the seven social media apps examined in the Gallup survey 鈥� Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. YouTube and TikTok were by far the most popular platforms surveyed, with teen girls spending nearly two hours a day watching TikTok videos and boys doing the same on YouTube for slightly more than that.

社区黑料 spoke with Jonathan Rothwell, a principal economist at Gallup who authored the research, to alert parents and educators to five things they should know about social media鈥檚 impact on youth mental health.

1. There鈥檚 a direct link between parent involvement and teens鈥� social media use and mental health.

Though social media鈥檚 impact on teen mental health has been long explored, one notable and less-researched feature of this survey is the correlation between parental involvement and intervention in teen鈥檚 screen time and its impact on their mental health. Rothwell says not only is limiting social media usage beneficial, but any harm from the content absorbed also seems to be mitigated by a strong parent-child relationship.

The Gallup and Institute for Family Studies report explored the idea from other researchers that the issue of social media and declining mental health may be cyclical for young people, who are already experiencing poor mental health or have 鈥渓ow life satisfaction,鈥� and turn to social media as a form of escapism. But teens who reported having a stronger and more loving relationship with their parents used social media less frequently and overall reported having better mental health.

2. Video-centered social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube may pose a bigger threat to teens鈥� mental health than other social media apps.

Teens reported spending an average of 1.9 hours a day on YouTube and 1.5 hours on TikTok. Rothwell points to videos being their most obvious feature, one unlike that of other social media apps that have historically focused on text and photos. The distinction raises questions about their appeal and potential harm. Instagram and Facebook are now modeling their platforms after TikTok and YouTube with vertical video features, trying to capture some of the same audience allure.

Rothwell says it would require greater detailed analysis to determine whether it鈥檚 simply the never-ending loop design of these video-centered apps or whether it鈥檚 particular content in the videos themselves that is creating a large appeal among teens and having an impact on their mental health. 

3. Even with involved parents, teen body image issues persist.

The report found that teens who spend more than five hours a day on social media are nearly three times as likely to hold negative views of their appearance as those who spend less time online. These negative effects were only associated in the report with YouTube and TikTok, likely because of the higher frequency with which teens use those apps versus Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

鈥淓ven when we saw that that sort of strong parenting relationship mitigates and maybe even eliminates the overall mental health problems, we did find that this other measure related to the teens鈥� body image continued to be negative, even in the context of a loving relationship with their parents,鈥� Rothwell said. 鈥淭hat makes me think that there could be something about these videos that makes people feel bad about who they are and what their body looks like.鈥�

4. Reducing the quantity of time spent on social media versus the quality of time may be more beneficial.

Because there鈥檚 no way for parents to ensure what teens may come across online at all times, Rothwell believes that reducing the amount of time spent on social media rather than trying to curate content creators or types of posts is the safer strategy. And because apps have refined their platforms to prioritize showing users people they don鈥檛 follow, there鈥檚 an added risk of coming across content that may contribute to declining mental health.

鈥淲ith any of these sites, there’s just no guarantee that unless you’re there with your kid, watching the videos together, that you’re going to be able to prevent exposure to harmful content.鈥�

5. Parents and educators have the opportunity to foster a healthier relationship between teens and their social media use.

Rothwell says that much like the cultural norms that exist with teaching healthy lifestyle habits, such as not overeating, healthy social media practices should also be implemented at home and in school.

鈥淓veryone who interacts with teenagers needs to do a better job of teaching them that it鈥檚 wasting their time and wasting their opportunities [and] to do something healthier, whether it’s education- or exercise-related or spending time with friends,鈥� Rothwell said. 鈥淓ven if the content was totally harmless, the probability that they’re going to be learning something useful from that content is very low.鈥�