Social media has completely transformed the world of the American adolescent. It has taken the comparison pressure of the teenage social structure and made it 24/7. Bullying doesn’t just happen during gym class anymore, but could escalate in the wee hours of the morning. Phones have robbed teenagers of having any “safe space” to be themselves and have placed them into an endless stream of constant performance.

One of the struggles of this constantly charged world is that many adults are entirely out of the loop. Any middle school or high school teacher will tell you that many conflicts that erupt during the school day were often created and charged through social media before they manifested in real life in the lunchroom. Teenagers frequently find themselves trying to navigate a world of increasingly complex situations and conflicts on their own. 

When students feel alone and find themselves in moments where they feel attacked, stuck, or completely lost, they can turn to extreme measures like suicide to escape the chaos swirling around them. The statistics are sobering:

• “Suicide rates nearly TRIPLED for children ages 10–14 between 2007–2017.”¹
• “Suicide rates for preteens ages 8–12 are increasing annually by 8% year after year since 2008.”²
• “Suicide deaths for all 10–24 year olds increased by 62% from 2007–2021.”³
• “Between 2010–2020, there was a 167% rise in suicide rates among adolescent girls aged 10–14 and a 91% increase among boys.”⁴

In addition to these sobering numbers, we also see an increase in correlation between social media use and youth suicide rates in the graph below.

Note: Suicide rate data (ages 10–24) from CDC NCHS Data Brief No. 471 (2007–2021). Screen/social media time estimates compiled from Pew Research Center and Common Sense Media teen surveys. This chart shows parallel trends but does not prove causation.

Suicide is a last-ditch option for someone who feels completely lost, alone, and feels like they have nowhere else to turn. Our hearts break for the kids who have come to see suicide as the only option, and for the families and friends they leave behind. 

What can we do to love, serve, and care for a generation that often feels alone and stuck on an endless hamster wheel of comparison and performance?

Consistent Conversations

If adults often live in the dark when it comes to teenagers’ struggles with social media, we must engage and create lines of communication. We should be engaged with what teenagers are doing online. 

Each student also needs an adult with whom they feel safe discussing things they might have experienced online. It is essential that the trusted adult doesn’t freak out at what the teenager may have seen or experienced online, but can walk them through the next steps and the best right decisions. 

Gospel-Centered Identity

Much of what we see teenagers struggle with is issues of identity. They are trying to fit in, perform well, and be enough. Social media exacerbates this struggle, but the gospel speaks truth into the midst of a culture of performance. 

As God’s creation, teenagers are God’s beloved children made in His image. Jesus came to live the perfect life and complete the perfect performance they could never achieve. At the cross, Jesus took upon Himself the failure of every teenager and offers hope to those who would believe in and follow Him. 

Teenagers’ identities are sealed and settled in their relationship with Jesus. As adults, we must constantly remind them and ourselves of the lasting spiritual foundation for our identities. 

Trade the Artificial for the Real

Through video games, social media, and phones, teenagers often get sucked into a completely artificial world. In that world, they often miss the real world that is happening around them. If technology is such a problem, we must begin to do more to engage teenagers in real life. 

Encourage them to spend time with friends in person instead of interacting online. Your family could leave the phones at home and go for a hike in nature. You could have cell phone-free dinners. Whatever ideas you may choose, stepping away from the artificial and embracing the real will be helpful for your whole family, too.

A hurting generation lost in social media needs to be reminded they are not alone, the gospel gives them the identity they long for, and the real world is waiting for them to engage. As adults, let us no longer leave them staring into their devices as we are immersed in our own devices, and relationally care and support the teenagers that God has put in our lives. They matter deeply to Him and should matter deeply to us, too. 

1. A CDC data brief (NCHS Data Brief No. 352) reports that “the suicide rate for persons aged 10–14 declined from 2000 (1.5) to 2007 (0.9), and then nearly tripled from 2007 to 2017 (2.5).” (CDC) ↩︎
2. Source: National Institutes of Health (NIH), July 2024. ↩︎
3. A CDC Data Brief (No. 471, June 2023) notes: “The suicide rate among people aged 10–24 remained stable from 2001 through 2007 and then increased 62% from 2007 through 2021 (from 6.8 deaths per 100,000 to 11.0).” (CDC) ↩︎
4. (CDC) ↩︎