Social media overuse a rising threat to Native youth
By: Alexie Lofstrom-Dewes
(PONCA CITY, Okla.) Do you remember your most embarrassing moment in middle or high school? The one that replays in your mind on nights when you can’t fall asleep? The odds are good that you remember it vividly, including exactly how you felt in the moment. It probably makes you cringe to even think about it.
Now, imagine someone recorded that moment on their phone and posted it online. Everyone in your school could witness it and replay it as many times as they wanted. Your teachers could see it. Your parents could see it. If you were especially unlucky, it might go viral, and millions of strangers across the world would see your most embarrassing moment play out before their eyes.
Most parents did not grow up with the looming threat of social media infamy. When we were younger, an embarrassing moment had a limited shelf life. Today’s youth face a new reality. And the pressures of social media-saturated lives are impacting their mental and emotional well-being.
Young people and social media
According to Ponca City School Superintendent Adam Leaming, students today are hyperconnected, and the constant exposure is having profound impacts on their mental health.
“Kids are being adversely impacted by the constant connectivity of today’s technology,” Leaming said. “From social media, YouTube, TikTok, text messaging, kids would come to school to connect. In the past, kids could escape the unwanted attention each day at 3:10. But in today’s world, we see more and [more] kids across our community with threats, harassment and illicit behavior occurring at all hours and times.”
Caitlin Browning, a Cherokee Nation citizen and therapist with a decade of experience working with high schoolers, has seen an increase of what she calls “image anxiety.” Because of the hyper-visibility and curated nature of social media, today’s young people often become so preoccupied with how others perceive them that they no longer feel safe just being themselves.
“They’re looking at the comments on a video of someone who is getting torn to shreds by having a hair out of place,” she said. “So that’s how they show up in their everyday lives, just having that on-edge feeling. Am I going to be criticized? Am I going to be roasted?”
Extensive time online also seems to impact how young people engage with themselves and others. Social media creates a new peer-social dynamic, Browning explained, and the coded nature of social media interactions can be unhealthy.
“Social media has its own language and playbook,” Browning said, “of ‘So-and-so liked this Instagram post of this female,’ or ‘I blocked you on Facebook,’ ‘I didn’t block you on TikTok.’ I mean, it’s a language in itself, so I think there’s a lot of just really harmful things in how they sustain relationships, how they build relationships, how they nurture relationships with social media.”
Social media can help people of all ages stay connected and find support they might not have in their offline communities. Still, social media use can be harmful when young people and their caregivers lack knowledge and training to navigate it safely.
Native youth may be at increased risk
Native youth and their guardians, in particular, need to be aware of the risks of social media. While Browning said she has seen harmful impacts from social media on students from all backgrounds, the risks for Native students and others from minoritized groups may be even higher. Native Americans already struggle with higher rates of mental health issues, including the highest rate of deaths due to despair (suicide, substance overdose, and alcohol related liver failure) of any racial group. Adding cyberbullying and hazing to the mix could be lethal.
The period from birth to age 18 is a crucial developmental stage in humans. But 65% of Native American youth report being on their devices three to seven hours every day. Assuming these young people sleep eight hours each night, that means they are online between 18% and 44% of their waking hours.
Since 2015, six tribes have filed lawsuits against social media platforms, including the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma in 2025. In a September 15 filing in the Northern District of California against Meta, YouTube, Snap, TikTok and other social media giants, the tribe argued that “social media products have been a significant contributor to the current mental health crisis facing young Indigenous peoples worldwide.” Moreover, according to the filing, the social media companies “designed their products to be addictive—preying on the developing brains of children. Defendants also knew that their products caused mental health problems in children and girls in particular.” These platforms have been shown to knowingly and deliberately utilize manipulation tactics to make them addictive, and young minds are especially susceptible.
Tips to support Native youth on social media
Advocacy groups continue to push for regulations and laws to protect minors on social media, and there is also a growing need to educate young people on how social media works and how to avoid its deleterious effects. Developing digital citizenship training requires time and resources, and most communities in Oklahoma already struggle to fund youth education and mental health.
So what can concerned parents, teachers and community members do to safeguard Native youth online?
- Don’t prohibit social media altogether.
While it might be tempting, Browning said that fully restricting access to social media may not be the answer.
“Kids are so smart,” she said. “They can get around everything… It’s important to them, so I don’t think restriction is part of [the answer].”
- Talk openly and often.
Browning encourages parents and guardians to have an open dialogue with their kids. Have check-ins to see how they’re doing. If they start behaving differently, approach them with curiosity rather than accusation, to find out what’s going on in their life that may be causing the change in behavior.
- Ask questions.
Browning encourages parents to ask questions and help their kids identify other ways to meet the needs that social media is filling. Ask, “What is this actually doing for you?” Then ask, “How can you get that need met in a different way, or at least not all the time?”
- Aim for balance.
Browning emphasizes the need for balance and boundaries rather than full restriction when it comes to screen time. Adults can help kids identify how they feel after engaging with specific online content. They can then encourage boundaries, help their kids understand their screen-time limits, learn how to block accounts they don’t want to see, and determine what time of day feels best to participate in the online social world.
- Seek culturally-relevant support.
Mental health resources that center Indigenous cultures and values can be particularly helpful for Native families. Check whether your tribe offers mental health and youth programs to help build Native resilience. For example, citizens of the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma can access resources through the Tribal Youth Program.
In addition, programs like Wakaya – Rising up for Native Health offer mental health and leadership support for Native middle- and high-school students. Participants receive a $350 stipend and Fitbit for participation. Applications for the summer program are due July 6.
This story was developed through StoryKeepers, a Crosswinds News program dedicated to sharing community stories, cultural knowledge, lived experiences, and important issues impacting Native communities.
