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CounselEd
Self-injurious Behavior in Social Media Consumed Youth
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feedback. Social network groups centered on SIB provide an outlet
for emotion, a low-bar for acceptance, a sense of belonging, a place
to form identity and establish a sense of control (Valkenburg, Peter,
& Schouten, 2006).
The role social media has played in the experience of adoles-
cence as traumatic is complex and vast. Social media applications,
such as Facebook
©
©
, Snapchat
©
©
, and Kick
©
,
provide a predominantly unregulated venue for a barrage of influ-
ences, critiques, and opinions. Their value to adolescent clients
is equivalent to what once was the family pet. Today, clients leave
school and rush home to their phones. For that matter, they rush to
their phones in-between classes if they can get away with it. They
sleep with their social media devices next to their bedside, if not
clenched in their palms, checking statuses throughout sleepless
nights. Raised on social media, youth today expect immediate, real
time results that contribute to defining their meaning, identity, and
sense of control (Ellin, 2014). Ellin described today’s social media
generation as seeking constant feedback, acceptance, and im-
mediate gratification while being particularly sensitive to criticism,
yet they maintain an unwillingness to be alone (2014). As adoles-
cents develop their executive decision making organ, they rely on
one another while accessing validation from social networks. In a
2006 study, Valkenburg, et al., found that the frequency and tone
with which adolescents received feedback on their profiles either
enhanced their social self-esteem and well-being or significantly
decreased it. Social media applications operate on an immediate re-
inforcement schedule with a delayed response equally as influential
on the adolescent psyche as a rapid reply (Valkenburg, et al., 2006).
These easily accessible applications expose youth to criticism and
pain at an intensified rate and frequency. It has been reported that
half of all high school students in the U.S. have experienced cyber
bullying and 10-20% experience it regularly (Cyber Bullying Re-
search Center, 2010). The ringing of the bell no longer brings with
it a sense of relief to the day’s trauma. The permanency of social
media posts live on in the next day’s classes.
When people feel they cannot control their situation, regulate
their emotions, or make the perceived or real threat stop, they may
resort to SIB as a functional trauma response. Pain is a biological
alert signal that something is not right and requires care. Pain func-
tionally demands our attention. Similarly, a multitude of emotions
alert us when something is mentally not well. Therefore, pain stimu-
lates the necessary attention required of the body and mind for heal-
ing (Gray, 1987). As therapists, it is common to hear family members
of loved ones who self-injure become frustrated, as they feel power-
less. They tend to seek an explanation for the behavior and resort to
the narrative of manipulation for attention. However, understanding
the body’s pain communication system challenges the assump-
tion that youth manipulatively self-injure “for attention.” Rather, it
suggests they are responding to their mind/body communication
systems in an effort to strum up the necessary energy or support to
deal with what is troubling them. Unfortunately, the adolescent brain
is not yet sophisticated enough to navigate this complex system
and requires assistance. Therapists can help their clients and fam-
“The role social
media has played
in the experience
of adolescence as
traumatic is complex
and vast. Social media
applications... provide
a predominantly
unregulated venue for a
barrage of
influences
,
critiques
, and
opinions
. “