In this segment on WKMG channel 6 news, Dr. Brooke Stuart, a holistic and functional medicine doctor, explores social media and mental health highlighting the importance of family communication, redefining self-worth based on internal factors, and promoting individuality and uniqueness in children. For the full segment, you can check out the video above or visit the link here and for a brief overview + a simple guide to begin, read below!
As human beings, we are hardwired for community, connection, engagement, and togetherness but with the constant comparison and judgment of self and others, it can become all too easy to buy into a distorted image, become self-conscious, isolate and feel more disconnected than ever before- losing ourselves in the noise and the firehose of information, placing our value, self-worth, importance and the way we see ourselves in the rollercoaster of likes, comments, messages, etc.
One solution? In this segment, we talk specifically about accountability, taking full and complete to change the relationship right away.
Social media is here to stay, and placing blame on these platforms for simply holding up a mirror and exposing the patterns that already exist doesn’t serve. It’s like handing over our power. However, through awareness and our power to choose, we can take it back.
To do this, it is important to consider the following without judgment- as there isn’t a wrong answer.
- How are you using these platforms- as a mindless distraction, just for fun, a source of inspiration, a way to connect?
- What information are you intaking and creating? Are you building people up or tearing them down? Are you obsessing over your ex or vision boarding?
- Are you open to new ideas, embracing differences, or stuck in your ways, with a need to be right and prove it?
- & on a much deeper note, how are you fulfilling your need for attention, connection and love? Where are you deriving your value from? From within, through who you are, or without, through achievement, engagement, etc.
And for more on this topic and the guide I created to support this segment, check here.
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Full Transcript Here
Julie: Social media is something we can’t escape. And it has a big impact on everyone, but especially teens and young adults.
Candace: And it seems like we’re often hearing about a new study linking mental health and social media and with a new school year underway, it’s important to understand the impacts it can all have.
Bridgett: Yes. Here now with some advice and solutions on how to have a healthy use of social media, Dr. Brooke Stuart of holistic counseling, acupuncture, and functional medicine. Welcome back.
Brooke: Thank you so much for having me. This is such a big issue for adults and young people.
Bridgett: How do we approach social media with a healthy mindset and set some parameters?
Brooke: Absolutely. I think one of the biggest things with social media is having complete and full awareness around how we enter into it. The energy we show up and taking full ownership. So often it’s not the platforms, but the platforms can expose what patterns may already be there, what patterns that children have grown up with and been confirmed and validated by through their parents. But it, I think really the way we can shift it, the beginning step is to take full ownership, so we can actually change the way we re-engage with social media.
Julie: So when you say take full ownership, I pop open Instagram, I’m scrolling through, I’m seeing all these beautiful, filtered people, how do I take ownership of how that’s making me feel or how I use it?
Brooke: Absolutely. So first and foremost, empathy. Right? Compassion. Like we are inundated with a fire hose of information. There are so many influencers out there. It’s such a fake world on so many levels, but I think one of the reasons we’re really having awareness around why we’re going there.
So by taking ownership, it means kind of like looking under the hood, right? We are so hardwired for community for human connection. And if we’re going to social media for that, we wanna kind of question, okay, how are we engaging in social media? What is that energy we’re bringing to it? But also what are we getting from it? Are we using it as a mindless distraction? Is it an addiction? I mean, as you know, a culture as human beings we are so hardwired for community so every time we look and we’re scrolling kind of mindlessly, we’re getting hits based on engagement, based on likes. So we have to start to begin to ask the question of how do we define our own self-worth our own value?
And in order to change the way we interact with social media, we have to change the way where we kind of derive value from where we’re deriving attention from from. And I think that really begins in the home, and especially going into a new school year. I think that this is an important conversation to open up dialogue around, you know?
Brigett: And you’re also talking about, you know, finding the, the benefits out of it. So, we’re talking about influencers or certain people, those battery drainers that we follow, is there maybe a way of following different people that would help?
Brooke: That’s a great idea. I mean, that’s the biggest thing too. Being so aware of what creates distress in the system and a state of expansion, motivation, inspiration.
So when we decide to take full ownership of how we engage in the platform, we get to choose who we follow, who we unfollow, what accounts inspire us, how we respond to certain comments. For example, if there’s a cyber bully or if there’s something kind of going on, which of course is, is heartbreaking as a parent to see, but also as a child to experience, right? If we’re able to understand that we can own our response and have conversations, open conversations around how to do this and understand that, we have a variety of choices of how we go about doing that, that is where things can really kind of shift and we can begin to heal that relationship.Because social media isn’t going anywhere, it’s only gonna get bigger. We’re living in a virtual world so it’s definitely important to be able to talk about these important factors.
Bridgett: What about discussing it as a family, like say your child is on it, how can you approach it in a way that you’re making sure that they’re following healthy patterns with that?
Brooke: Absolutely. So I think just even opening up the conversation like, we are here, we can do at home, we can do around the dinner table, we can do it casually. I think one of the most important things that we have to drive home for our children and even for ourselves, is literally starting to redefine how we see ourselves. So is our self-worth fluctuating based on external factors like achievement, like what we do, how we look, all of these different things or is it based on who we are? If at home we can begin to praise our children for who they are, that unique, special, important, capable, just for being themselves and showing up. That is so instrumental.
Bridgett: What about when we talked about waiting ‘tll they’re in the eighth grade to get the phone. Do you think maybe social media shouldn’t start until they’re in maybe a certain grade or a certain age?
Brooke: You know, there are definitely studies that show how developmentally there is a lot of benefit to waiting to have a smartphone or waiting to really be immersed in technology. Unfortunately, in this day and age, I think it’s hard to get away from because children are at school, they’re playing with their friends’ phones, they’re involved in all kinds of things, you can’t really get away from it. So I think that’s a very personal decision when it comes to the family unit and you know how their unique child is going to what they feel is right for them and their family.
Julie: Yeah. Gotta keep the lines of communication open.
Brooke: Absolutely.
Julie: You know, even in elementary school, my daughter’s at school, they’re all required to have devices, so it’s not as easy as no devices.
Brooke: Yep. Absolutely. And just a quick mention on this, I think one of the things that we want to be careful of with our children is to keep them special and unique. So often when we’re focused on comparing ourselves and other people, we forget that we have this unique thing that we can bring to the world and I see so many teenage girls in my practice and that’s what I try to keep that alive is like ”You are so weird and wonderful and strange in your own way and it’s a beautiful thing. Keep that, that’s special.”
Bridget: Non-conformity.
Brooke: Yeah, exactly.
Bridgett: Well, thank you so much. There’s so much information we’re all just kind of just absorbing.
Candace: Well, thank you so much, Brooke. We really appreciate it.
Brooke: Absolutely.
Bridgett: Thank you Dr. Brooke.
More Resources
- On Social Media, Mindfulness and Breaking Addictive Patterns
- On Good Sleep, Social Media and Health Devices
- For The Kids, How To Ease Stress and Anxiety in Light of the School Year
- Heartbeat Issue #2
- Sign up for our Fullscript dispensary here to receive 15% off all physician-grade supplements + protocols
More From Dr. Brooke
Dr. Brooke Stuart is the Founder of Let Go & Grow®, Co-Founder of Lead Lab, and a holistic doctor in private practice, where she works with a unique combination of holistic counseling and functional medicine to personalize treatment plans for her patients as she partners with them to unlock their own, intrinsic ability to heal! She works with patients locally in Orlando, FL, and virtually worldwide. She also works with groups, families, couples and children upon request to address the root cause of a wide range of health issues including but not limited to: stress-related disorders, thyroid and hormonal imbalances, blood sugar dysregulation, compromised detoxification, gastrointestinal and cardiometabolic issues, and more.
- For more on her private practice, check here.
- To book Dr. Brooke to speak or work with your team or organization, check here.
- To read more about Dr. Brooke Stuart’s journey into holistic medicine, professional and functional medicine training, affiliations, and credentials, check here.