06/05/2025

LYFE TUESDAY | MAY 6, 2025

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Negative snooze effect O NE last message on Snapchat, one last video on TikTok, one last thread on Reddit. For many o More than four in 10 teens say social media harms sleep neutrality dominates, with 46% perceiving neither gain nor loss.

networks harm the amount of sleep they get. But that is not their only collateral damage. The overuse of screens also impinges on their effectiveness in daily life, since 40% of young people surveyed feel that their productivity is affected by social media, and 22% observe a concrete impact on their school grades. However, when it comes to their mental health, the majority of teenagers temper their judgement. Half of them feel that social networks have neither a positive nor a negative effect on their psychological well-being. Only 19% say they feel a harmful impact, while 10% feel, on the contrary, that these platforms are beneficial. The same applies to self confidence: 19% of young people say that social media helps them to feel better about themselves, while 15% feel that these platforms hurt their confidence. But here again,

Girls, in particular, appear to be more exposed to the negative effects of social networks. Indeed, 50% of girls say their sleep is disturbed by their use of Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat, versus 40% of boys. When it comes to mental health, 25% of teenage girls evoke a harmful effect, versus 14% of boys. Their self confidence is also more often shaken, since 20% of girls say that social networks have affected their self-confidence, versus only 10% of boys. Despite this mixed picture, one positive point emerges: friendships. In this respect, social media appears to be an invaluable resource, since three in 10 teenagers say their use of it has strengthened their friendships, while only 7% feel it has damaged them. However, almost half (43%) feel that this impact remains neutral.– ETX Studio

teenagers, social media is not just occupying their free time, it is also eating away at their hours of sleep. According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Centre, 45% of 13–17 year-olds claim that their use of social networking sites interferes with the amount of sleep they get. Whether it is the compulsive checking of news feeds, the anxious wait for a reply to a message or the temptation to watch “just one more video”, these habits have become almost commonplace, but they seriously disrupt biological rhythms. As a result, many teenagers find their sleep delayed, interrupted or even cut short. And they are increasingly aware of it. According to the study, more than four in 10 teenagers (45%) recognise that, generally speaking, social

According to the study, 50% of girls say their sleep is disturbed by their use of Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat.

AI companions present risks for young users ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) companions powered by recommendations on children’s use of technological content and products. between mental health and technology.

generative AI present real risks and should be banned for minors, a leading US tech watchdog said in a study published last week. The explosion in generative AI since the advent of ChatGPT has seen several startups launch apps focused on exchange and contact, sometimes described as virtual friends or therapists that communicate according to one’s tastes and needs. Watchdog Common Sense tested several of these platforms, namely Nomi, Character AI and Replika, to assess their responses. While some specific cases “show promise”, they are not safe for kids, concluded the organisation, which makes

“Until there are stronger safeguards, kids should not be using them,” Vasan said. In one example cited by the study, a companion on the Character AI platform advises the user to kill someone, while another user in search of strong emotions was suggested to take a speedball, a mixture of cocaine and heroin. In some cases, “when a user showed signs of serious mental illness and suggested a dangerous action, the AI did not intervene, and encouraged the dangerous behaviour even more,” Vasan told reporters. In October, a mother sued Character AI, accusing one of its companions of contributing to the suicide of her 14-year-old son by failing to clearly dissuade him from committing the act. In December, Character AI announced a series of measures, including the deployment of a dedicated companion for teenagers. Robbie Torney, in charge of AI at Common Sense, said the organisation had carried out tests after these protections were put in place and found them to be “cursory”. However, he pointed out that some of the existing generative AI models contained mental disorder detection tools and did not allow the chatbot to let a conversation drift to the point of producing potentially dangerous content. Common Sense made a distinction between the companions tested in the study and the more generalist chatbots such as ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, which do not attempt to offer an equivalent range of interactions. – AFP

The study was carried out in collaboration with mental health experts from Stanford University. For Common Sense, AI companions are “designed to create emotional attachment and dependency, which is particularly concerning for developing adolescent brains”. According to the association, tests conducted show that these next-generation chatbots offer “harmful responses, including sexual misconduct, stereotypes, and dangerous ‘advice’.” “Companies can build better” when it comes to the design of AI companions, said Nina Vasan, head of the Stanford Brainstorm lab, which works on the links

Significantly more teenage girls than boys get this kind of content on social networks. – ALL PICS FROM PEXELS Social media becoming mental heath resource

FROM Instagram to TikTok to YouTube, social networks are no longer just for posting selfies or dance videos. For more than a third of American teenagers, they have also become the place to find information about mental health, according to a recent study. For many teenagers, social networks are no longer just a place for entertainment: they also serve as a psychological refuge. According to a study by the Pew Research Centre, 34% of young people aged 13 to 17 say they at least sometimes get information about mental health on these platforms, and 9% do so extremely or fairly often. Hashtags such as #mentalhealth and #anxiety have racked up billions of views on TikTok. Testimonials, compassionate advice and pseudo therapy videos all come together in a stream that is as dense as it is disparate. And while mental health-related content is ubiquitous, it meets a real demand, since 63% of teenagers say social media is an important way they get information about mental health. Differing experiences Significantly more teenage girls than boys get this kind of content on social

networks, at 40% versus 28%. But most agree that it is an important way to source this information (64% of girls, 60% of boys). Experiences also differ in relation to ethnic origin. In fact, 49% of Black teenagers use social networks to find out about mental health, well ahead of Hispanic (35%) and White (30%) teens. These figures reflect a more extensive use of these platforms in communities most exposed to barriers to access to care. Ambivalent relationship with social media At the same time, almost one in two teenagers (48%) consider that social networks have a mostly negative effect on people their age. And more and more of them recognise that their own mental health is suffering as a result: 14% in 2024, versus 9% in 2022. Another warning sign is that the feeling of having a support system through social networks is falling sharply. In 2022, 67% of teenagers said they felt supported through social media. By 2024, this figure had dropped to 52%, reflecting emotional exhaustion and growing exposure to anxiety-inducing content. – ETX Studio

The watchdog organisation finds that AI companions create a sense of dependency, which is unhealthy for young users.