Category: The Teenage Brain - HORIZONS

The 'Social Media Looking Glass' & teenagers' identity development

6/19/2018

Teenagers develop their sense of identity and a sense of self that will endure into adulthood during this major period of development. This is a defining period, working out who you are, what you like, how you see yourself, how others may see you and a whole load of other complex changes in thinking and emotional processes relating to who you think you are!

Neuroscience studies have shown physiological grey matter changes in the teen brain in relation to the development of identity. The brain region responsible for this important growth is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dmPFC on the diagram). In her book 'Inventing Ourselves The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain', Professor Sarah Jayne Blakemore, www.ucl.ac.uk/icn/people/sarah-jayne-blakemore,
amzn.eu/edn9BCX discusses research showing development and activity in dmPFC when teens are thinking about other people, how they compare to others and what others may think of them. These thoughts become an overwhelming concern as teens develop the capacity to deal with them. Even the thought that others may be thinking about them or the perception or slight possibility someone may be thinking about them, how I look; what I like; who I am - will light up this part of the brain. Compared to adults there is a significant difference. Adults use a different cognitive process and neural pathways when considering these questions, so the thinking of the self is unique and changing in these formative years.

Why the blog on this? I have major concerns about how social media is impacting this area of brain development. Teens can't seem to help this way of thinking when they are in the midst of this, it is a functional brain process, not a psychological thought or emotional response - it's out of their control. This change is concrete and necessary in humans' neurological development in the progression to adulthood.
Teens can only think in this way, at this stage and this way is in relation to others - peers being the most important group EVER - their peers, friends, distant friends, groups, colleagues, acquaintances, potential friends, partners etc..

The teen's sense of self is very much driven by their social world - friendships, relationships, interactions with others, as they feed the brain and pathways form. Sarah Jayne Blakemore @sjblakemore describes this as the 'looking glass self' - an introspective viewpoint, you judge yourself as a teen by what others think of you, how others may think of you and how they interact with you. This forms the identity and the sense of who we are.

Herein lies the problem with today's social media looking glass. As I've been researching this area, this has become a real concern. Our teens currently have some very virtual looking glasses! they are engulfed with what-ifs and maybes about who is looking at them, who is waiting for them to post, who is out there and what everyone thinks about them! These interactions are not taking place in reality, in the two-way day to day interactions but in their virtual one-way possible reactions, full of perceptions and anticipations. How stressful!

They cannot help checking, wondering & worrying. This is their feedback which is forming their pathways. Such complexity is bound to cause confusion and I wonder what impact this is having on their developing, malleable brains. The self-identity which evolves through these teenage years is based on experience and interaction with others and with the environment. Our teens have this extra and really complex aspect of one-way interaction and time lagging feedback. Trying to form a sense of self in such a maze of virtual and perceived social interactions from peers who you have indirect, direct and even possible relationships with must be changing how the dmPFC develops and how the teens' identity develops, the sense of who you are. What is the further impact on development into adulthood? Will this lead to problems as the brain matures, with personality and identity crisis, with the brain developing in this confused way that could become embedded with insecurities, anxieties and lack of confidence in who we really are? How does the young adult cope with this world without the solid foundation of their identity - scary isn't it?

Those Teenagers! - Adults remember their own emotionally charged years - is that why they find them so difficult?!

5/29/2018

During my recent training on adolescence, a child psychotherapist had some interesting insights which resonated with me as a parent of a teen.

For adults, our memories of the teenage years are the most emotionally charged that we have and the most resonant in terms of how we view ourselves. The teen years are the forming of our real selves, our real personalities, the risks we took, the friends we made, the music we listened to. The brain remembers more of these years than earlier years and there are fewer gaps. This is to do with the development of the brain at this time of life and how those memories are stored to be retrieved in later life.

Maybe this is why so many parents, educators and all adults struggle with teens behaviour. It matters, because? Well, because we know what risks are taken, we know the consequences of those risks and we know that once you've got past this stage in your development into adulthood then certain opportunities have passed you by.

Adults also remember the intense emotions of those years, the pain of heartbreak, the pain of not fitting in, the pain of the friendships and the sheer joy of taking a risk and it paid off, of doing something you knew you weren't allowed to do, of falling in love so deeply for the first time. Of doing something that a few years later as an adult you know that you just wouldn't take the risk of doing because you're executive skills have developed - how could you have been so stupid!

So why do we fear and judge these years so harshly, because we know and we remember! WE cant bear it can we? We would rather they were put in a situation where they weren't exposed to these risks, those pains, those extremes highs and lows which could impact them for the rest of their lives. Not only impacting their opportunities but themselves, how they cope, their personalities - how they view love, friendships and life....
Big Stuff isn't it?!

Feeling powerless? Helpless? You're right there's not a lot we can do - we can accept it, we can reflect it, don't deny it, be alongside it and be there. Don't judge, don't restrict but enable the teenager to get through this as you did.

Remember that some of your feelings of outrage and incredibility may just come from within you, from your own experiences and memories!