How Do I Know if My Child Has a Valid Social Media Addiction Case?

There is still so much to learn about these cases, but a clear pattern has emerged from the hundreds of children and parents I’ve met with. Parents know something is wrong because their child feels like they cannot live without social media. Often, the child was doing okay or managing struggles before, but once social media became central to their life, things spiraled out of control. In many cases, this manifests as a severe addiction—if a parent tries to take away the screen, the child has a meltdown. Some children become incredibly anxious or depressed, refusing to go to the bathroom without their phone, skipping showers, or even dropping out of school. Others fall into obsessive behaviors, like posting online and immediately feeling depressed if their post doesn’t get enough likes, or developing sudden insecurities about their appearance after being exposed to harmful content. Beyond addiction, there are also cases of sextortion, where predators—often on Instagram or Snapchat—target children, as well as drug-related dangers where kids are exposed to content promoting pill sales, unknowingly buying fentanyl-laced drugs. In the most tragic cases, children who previously showed no signs of severe mental health issues die by suicide, leaving their families blindsided. While the severity varies, the common factor is always social media and the unrestricted access these platforms provide.