The Tip of the Iceberg

Many people are familiar of the classic story of “The Titanic”.   In the 1997 movie, The captain and his crew fail to detect the Iceberg in the frigid waters until it is too late and sadly the luxury cruise ship fills with water and breaks in two and only a handful of survivors lived. 

Some view the recent Covid-19 Pandemic as a situation whereby we’ve only seen a hint of the long-term ramifications for families – particularly our youth. Psychology Today and Psychiatry.org both cite recent research (2023) that roughly 20% of teens are clinically depressed. Both articles acknowledge that school closings are a major factor that contributes to these outcomes. 

This comes as no surprise as a large component of school for adolescents is the social interaction they experience interacting with peers, teachers, and faculty in their extra-curricular activities at school. That paired with kids on their tablets for extended periods of time, isolated from their peers and often turning to social media to connect with their peers – leading to hours of screen time on Tik-Tok, Snap-Chat, Instagram, YouTube, and countless other platforms. All of these ingredients lead to the “perfect storm” (pun intended) of kids becoming angry, irritable, tired from lack of quality sleep at night due to a lack of melatonin which is curbed by the blue light emanating from their devices for hours on end.

What is the solution? Get kids to engage in sports or activities face to face, insist that they turn in their devices at night to promote good sleep hygiene. Talk to them about cyber bullying and ask if they have been on the receiving end at times. People have an innate need to feel heard, acknowledged, understood and validated. That is the case for all including adolescents and young adults. Note the behavioral changes that take place when you actually connect face to face with your child to talk through things that they are struggling with. More times than not, the changes are positive ones. 

Ultimately, the choice is yours to go ahead – throwing caution to the wind or to thoughtfully consider altering the course for your family so as to avoid certain choppy waters ahead. If you are not sure whether your child is struggling with depression or anxiety, schedule an appointment to have them evaluated. Better to know now vs. later.