By+Nicholas+Kardaras

“Im going to kill you while you are both asleep，” the wild-eyed 13-year-old girl said as she flailed1 and kicked her father before biting his arm. This was the second time in less than a week that Heidi had flown into a violent rage because her parents had taken away her Chromebook and her access to social media. It would also be the second time that she would have to be taken to the psychiatric2 emergency room.

When her parents， John and Melanie， first called me for help， they described Heidi as a sweet， happy， loving girl whose teachers had always declared their favorite student. With a tendency to gravitate toward overachievers，3 she loved playing soccer， hiking and taking mountain bike rides with her dad—the man she bit.

John and Melanie， supportive suburban New Jersey parents with college degrees and their own tech business， were blindsided4 by Heidis social media addiction. “It all started when she came home in seventh grade with a Chromebook that the school had given her，” they told me. Ostensibly given for school purposes， the Chromebook came loaded with Google Classroom5—which also， unfortunately， included Google Chat and various Google Chat communities.

Once this educational Trojan horse6 entered their home， John and Melanie found that Heidi was more and more preoccupied with its social media chat rooms， spending hours on them every night. Because the chat rooms were part of the Chromebook platform， they were not able to disable them. Then Heidi started becoming preoccupied with raunchy YouTube videos and also began playing an addictive progression game similar to Minecraft.7

Over the course of a year John and Melanie saw their daughter transform from a sweet， innocent girl who loved spending time with her parents into a sexualized， foulmouthed and violent terror. And sadly， she became a girl in need of psychiatric treatment.

Early adolescence is a time of dramatic change for most kids， and arguably， Heidi may have been headed for trouble with or without her Chromebook. It is also true that many kids use social media responsibly and without issue8. But a growing body of evidence shows that social media and immersion in the digital world can be contributing factors in the development of an array of psychological problems—from addiction to depression—and young people may be especially vulnerable.

Social connection is not only the most essential part of being human， it is also a key ingredient in happiness and health. Thanks to social media， we are the most connected society that has ever lived： each second people in the U.S. send more than 7，500 tweets， 1，394 Instagram photographs， and two million e-mails； they also view more than 119，000 YouTube videos.endprint

Predictably， the younger you are， the more you text. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center poll， cell-phone owners between the ages of 18 and 24 send or receive an average of 109.5 messages on a normal day， whereas all adults （18 and older） exchange a daily average of 41.5 messages.

For a species hardwired9 for social connection， that should be a wonderful thing. And yet the rise of social media and technology has coincided with an apparent decline in mental health. In 2014 psychologist Jean M. Twenge of San Diego State University analyzed data from nearly seven million teenagers and adults across the U.S. and found that more people reported symptoms of depression in recent years than they did in the 1980s. Teens， in particular， are now 74 percent more likely to have trouble sleeping and twice as likely to see a professional for mental health issues. According to a 2016 fact sheet from the World Health Organization， depression is now the leading cause of disability globally， affecting 350 million people worldwide.

There are certainly many intervening factors that may be driving this global trend， but we do have preliminary research linking depression with social media usage. In a 2014 study， social psychologists found another reason why people can feel down after Facebook sessions： they feel that the time spent is not meaningful.

As social creatures， we find purpose and meaning and bolster10 our emotional states largely through the social and cultural context created by contact with others. Not getting the right kind of human contact at key developmental periods in childhood can lead to profound emotional and psychological problems.

Social media has an impact on other basic psychological needs—including our need for novelty， called neophilia.11 Human brain is biologically primed for novelty， which， in turn， has helped us to survive cataclysmic environmental change.12 Unfortunately， this hardwired thirst can be overwhelming in the information age， in which every hyperlink， tweet， text， e-mail and Instagram photograph can be an opportunity to experience something new. As with an alcoholic in a liquor store or a chocolate lover at Willy Wonkas， the multitude of opportunities for novelty can be exhaustingly hyperstimulating.13

And what about the human need to experience reward？ We know that humans like activities that release the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain—a lot.14 Evolution has given us incentives via a “dopamine tickle” to pursue certain lifesustaining activities，15 because dopamine made us feel good. But we have discovered that digital stimulation feels pretty good， too， and similarly lights up our dopamine-reward pathways.endprint

So then where does modern digital technology， which plays off these intersecting human needs for connection，16 reward and novelty， leave us？ Short answer： addicted or， at the very least， potentially vulnerable to screen addiction. Many adults and kids have developed compulsive texting and social media habits precisely because such predilections quench our thirst for novelty while tickling our dopamine-reward pathways.17 And like addicts， they can go into withdrawal18 without it.

“等你们俩都睡了我要杀了你们，”说这话的时候，这个13岁的女孩愤怒地瞪着眼睛，对她爸爸拳打脚踢，之后还咬了他的胳膊。在不到一个星期的时间里，这已经是海蒂第二次因为父母没收了她的谷歌笔记本电脑并且不让她使用社交软件而暴怒了。她也不得不将被第二次送进精神疾病急诊室。

当海蒂的父母约翰和梅勒妮第一次来寻求我帮助的时候，他们说海蒂是一个可爱、快乐、充满爱心的小女孩，而且也总是老师们最喜欢的学生。以前的海蒂一直朝着优等生的目标努力，她热爱踢足球、徒步旅行以及和爸爸一起在山中骑行——而现在，海蒂却会咬她的爸爸。

约翰和梅勒妮住在新泽西的郊区，夫妇二人都有大学文凭，并经营着自己的科技公司。他们一直都非常支持海蒂，但海蒂沉溺于社交媒体这件事却让他们感到措手不及。他们告诉我，“这一切都是从海蒂七年级时带回了学校发的谷歌笔记本电脑开始的。”借着教学的名义，电脑里安装了谷歌课堂——但很不幸的是，里面还有谷歌聊天工具和各种谷歌聊天社区。

自从这个名义上为了教学活动的“特洛伊木马”来到他们家，约翰和梅勒妮就发现海蒂越来越沉溺于社交媒体上的聊天室中，并且每晚她都要花上好几个小时来聊天。因为这些聊天室是谷歌笔记本运行平台的一部分，所以约翰和梅勒妮无法禁用它们。后来，海蒂开始迷恋观看YouTube视频网站上的低俗视频，还开始玩一种能够使人上瘾的类似于《我的世界》的升级类游戏。……