Adults must better help young people to manage the attractive digital world, say researchers Sissela Nutley, Lisa Thorell and Emma Claesdotter Knutsson. We have all grown up with targeted messages, beauty ideals and advertising around us, but the digital algorithms of the digital world are unmatched in capturing and retaining our interest. Especially young people with special vulnerabilities, such as the diagnosis ADHD, easily get stuck on their mobile phone or computer screen, says Lisa Thorell.
Endlessly scrolling on TikTok and hard to focus on other things
Siri Roos, who is in high school, describes the social media app Tiktok as an “endless scrolling”, which makes time fly away. Students Zlatan Yuenyao and Lucas Karlsson say that they spend between 5 and 7 hours a day on digital media, but that they still have time for much else. Emmet Haggert, also a high school student, says that he has difficulty focusing on anything other than the computer and the mobile phone.
Unrealistic beauty ideals and reduced sleep
Sissela Nutley highlights unrealistic beauty ideals as part of social media that can affect the mental well-being of young people, and Emma Claesdotter Knutsson says that the time young people spend on digital media often affects the amount of sleep they receive.
Participants: Lisa Thorell, Associate Professor of Psychology KI; Sissela Nutley, researcher cognitive neuroscience KI, Emma Claesdotter Knutsson, researcher and chief physician BUP in Lund; Siri Roos, Lucas Karlsson, Zlatan Yuenyao and Emmet Haggert, high school students.
Audio clips from TikTok and from the games God of War and Apex can be heard in the program
Reporter: Ylva Carlqvist Warnborg
Producer: Björn Gunér
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Source: ICELAND NEWS