The Screen Grab

Something had changed. Almost without noticing, Dhisha Kukalakuntla had stopped reading, listening to music, and hanging out with friends. Instead, the 18-year-old from Dallas, Texas, spent every free moment on her phone scanning social media feeds. Seeing a relatable TikTok video about growing up Indian American gave her a rush of happiness. And every time she liked a clip, her “For You” feed would fill with more videos just like it.

“It felt like a never-ending pot of gold,” says Kukalakuntla. A few minutes would quickly turn into hours, “until eventually my brain was too exhausted to accomplish anything I’d set out to do for the day,” she admits. Then regret would kick in, sending her back online to escape the feeling.

Sound familiar? Social media’s growing ability to hook teens and concerns about what that’s doing to their brains and emotions are a big reason why 41 states have filed suit against Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook (see Instagram in Court).

But according to experts, you as a consumer can do many things to avoid getting sucked in—using the strategies on these pages.

Something had changed. Almost without noticing, Dhisha Kukalakuntla had stopped reading. She had stopped listening to music and hanging out with friends. Instead, the 18-year-old from Dallas, Texas, spent every free moment on her phone. She was scanning social media feeds. She would see a TikTok video about growing up Indian American. That gave her a rush of happiness. Every time she liked a clip, her “For You” feed would fill with more videos just like it.

“It felt like a never-ending pot of gold,” says Kukalakuntla. A few minutes would quickly turn into hours, “until eventually my brain was too exhausted to accomplish anything I’d set out to do for the day,” she admits. Then regret would kick in. It would send her back online to escape the feeling.

Sound familiar? Social media’s ability to hook teens is growing. So is concern over what it does to teens’ brains and emotions. That’s why 41 states have filed suit against Meta. That’s the parent company of Instagram and Facebook (see Instagram in Court).

But according to experts, you as a consumer can do many things to avoid getting sucked into social media. Use the strategies on these pages.

Ever notice that you never reach the “end” on apps like TikTok, Instagram, or Snapchat? New content keeps loading, and it purposely consists of posts both dull (sock ads, yawn) and delightful (puppy videos, aw). That combination appeals to our brains, which respond strongly to unpredictable rewards.

On Instagram, for instance, you may see several posts that don’t interest you and then a video from your favorite comic. At that moment, your brain releases a feel-good chemical called dopamine. You want that happy feeling again, so you keep scrolling.

Take Control: The real benefit of most activities occurs in the first hour, says psychologist Edward Spector, who treats teens with unhealthy digital habits. After that? Not so fun. Spector suggests identifying which digital activities make you lose track of time. Then before starting them, set a hard stop at a specific time, such as when dinner is ready.

Ever notice that you never reach the “end” on apps like TikTok, Instagram, or Snapchat? New content keeps loading. It purposely consists of posts both dull (sock ads, yawn) and delightful (puppy videos, aw). That combination appeals to our brains. The brain responds strongly to unpredictable rewards.

On Instagram, for instance, you may see several posts that don’t interest you. Then you see a video from your favorite comic. At that moment, your brain releases a feel-good chemical called dopamine. You want that happy feeling again. So you keep scrolling.

Take Control: The real benefit of most activities occurs in the first hour, says psychologist Edward Spector. He treats teens with unhealthy digital habits. After that? Not so fun. Spector suggests identifying which digital activities make you lose track of time. Before starting them, set a hard stop at a specific time, such as when dinner is ready.

A friend just tagged you in a photo! Your bonus points are expiring! There’s a one-day sale on sneakers! These notifications ding, flash, and buzz at all hours, demanding our attention. The average smartphone user in the United States gets 46 of these nudges daily. The purpose is to drive you back to the platform.

Take Control: Remember: Digital devices are tools.They exist to help you communicate, learn, and have fun when youchoose to use them. Turn off alerts by going to Settings > Notifications on your device. (You can opt to still allow certain notifications,such as messages from family members, to get through.) And whenan app asks whether it can send “push notifications,” select no. Those types of alerts can pop up even after you’ve closed the app.

A friend just tagged you in a photo! Your bonus points are expiring! There’s a one-day sale on sneakers! These notifications ding, flash, and buzz at all hours. They demand our attention. The average smartphone user in the United States gets 46 of these nudges daily. The purpose is to drive you back to the platform.

Take Control: Remember: Digital devices are tools. They exist to help you communicate, learn, and have fun when you choose to use them. Turn off alerts by going to Settings  >  Notifications on your device. (You can opt to still allow certain notifications, such as messages from family members, to get through.) And when an app asks whether it can send “push notifications,” select no. Those types of alerts can pop up even after you’ve closed the app.

The internet can be a frustrating place to navigate. You finish a level on your game, and you’re forced to watch a preview for another app before you can keep playing. When you click to read an article about your favorite celebrity, an ad for an energy drink starts blaring.

You try to stop it, but you’re taken to the drink’s website. Or you’re scrolling when suddenly a distracting commercial fills your screen. This technique is called auto-play. It’s meant to make it hard to avoid engaging with ads.

Take Control: Make ads easier to ignore by turning off auto-play. Most browsers (including Edge and Firefox) have the option under Settings > Permissions or Preferences > Auto-play. Chrome doesn’t let users turn off auto-play via the browser, but you can disable it on individual sites like YouTube.

The internet can be a frustrating place to navigate. You finish a level on your game. Then you’re forced to watch a preview for another app before you can keep playing. When you click to read an article about your favorite celebrity, an ad for an energy drink starts blaring.

You try to stop it. But you’re taken to the drink’s website. Or you’re scrolling when suddenly a distracting commercial fills your screen. This technique is called auto-play. It’s meant to make it hard to avoid engaging with ads.

Take Control: Make ads easier to ignore by turning off auto-play. Most browsers (including Edge and Firefox) have the option under Settings > Permissions or Preferences > Auto-play. Chrome doesn’t let users turn off auto-play via the browser. But you can disable it on individual sites like YouTube.

Is everyone having fun online without you? Probably not, but tech companies want you to experience “fear of missing out” if you don’t engage. On Snapchat, friends are urged to snap each other daily to avoid breaking a streak. Games like Wordle prompt you to share your score—reminding your followers to play too.

You may also feel pressure to constantly check your social media feeds and like your friends’ content, not to mention keeping up with the latest TikTok trends.

Take Control: Be honest with friends that you’re trying to reduce your screen time—and encourage them to do the same. Come up with a fun IRL activity, like trying a new pizza place or going on a hike. When Dhisha Kukalakuntla feels pressured to respond to a post, she calls or FaceTimes the person instead. “You get your conversation in, and you’re not constantly checking your phone for a text back,” she says.

Is everyone having fun online without you? Probably not. But tech companies want you to experience “fear of missing out” if you don’t engage. On Snapchat, friends are urged to snap each other daily to avoid breaking a streak. Games like Wordle prompt you to share your score. This reminds your followers to play too.

You may also feel pressure to constantly check your social media feeds and like your friends’ content. Not to mention trying to keep up with the latest TikTok trends.

Take Control: Be honest with friends that you’re trying to reduce your screen time. Encourage them to do the same. Come up with a fun IRL activity, like trying a new pizza place or going on a hike. When Dhisha Kukalakuntla feels pressured to respond to a post, she calls or FaceTimes the person instead. “You get your conversation in, and you’re not constantly checking your phone for a text back,” she says.

Like many teens, Vinaya Sivakumar, 18, felt a bit lonely during the Covid-19 pandemic. One day, she watched some TikTok videos set to sad songs. The next time she looked at the app, her “For You” page was flooded with quotes about depression. “That’s all I would see content-wise,” she recalls.

As the Mason, Ohio, teen found out, we’re not totally in control of what we view online. Much of that is decided by algorithms that rank content based on how much time we’re likely to engage with it. Humans are hardwired to pay more attention to upsetting things than positive things. So algorithms may send you down a rabbit hole of negative content.

Take Control: Avoid clicking on suggested content—it only feeds the algorithm. That means skipping the “Recommended Videos” on YouTube and the “For You,” “Explore,” and “Suggestions” screens on TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. Instead, go directly to your feed to see the accounts you’ve chosen to follow. And if what you see causes stress, anger, or sadness, consider deleting the app entirely or use screen time limits to enforce breaks.

Like many teens, Vinaya Sivakumar, 18, felt a bit lonely during the Covid-19 pandemic. One day, she watched some TikTok videos set to sad songs. The next time she looked at the app, her “For You” page was flooded with quotes about depression. “That’s all I would see content-wise,” she recalls.

As the Mason, Ohio, teen found out, we’re not totally in control of what we view online. Much of that is decided by algorithms. They rank content based on how much time we’re likely to engage with it. Humans are hardwired to pay more attention to upsetting things than positive things. So algorithms may send you down a rabbit hole of negative content.

Take Control: Avoid clicking on suggested content. It only feeds the algorithm. That means skipping the “Recommended Videos” on YouTube. It also means avoiding the “For You,” “Explore,” and “Suggestions” screens on TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. Instead, go directly to your feed to see the accounts you’ve chosen to follow. And if what you see causes stress, anger, or sadness, consider deleting the app entirely. Or use screen time limits to enforce breaks.