You’re probably not worried about Strava’s role in the teen mental health crisis. But you should be.

Strava seems extremely benign – especially compared to an app like Instagram or TikTok. It simply “allows you to track your running and walking with GPS, sign up for Challenges, share photos of your activities. and follow friends,” in the company’s own words. However, I recently heard a high school track coach point to Strava as an example of how technology can contribute to the pressure teenagers face. Even in the off-season, teenagers see how their runs compare to those of their peers three cities over or three states away. Competition is not limited to competitions; it is accessible and quantifiable throughout the year.

Here’s why it matters: Our new data found it more than 1 in 4 teenagers struggle with burnout. Burnout is usually associated with adults in high pressure jobsbut it also affects our youth. One 10^th Elerul recalled his older brother’s description of the exhaustion: “I feel like a train that has burned every ounce of fuel it has left but still hasn’t reached the station.” Concerned adults should ask, “Why are our teenagers running out of fuel? And what is this ‘station’ that they are exhausting themselves to reach?”

One thing is clear: we can’t put all the blame for teenage mental health on social media, and banning phones from school won’t fix it.

In our nationally representative survey of more than 1,500 teens, more than half of American teens reported negative pressure to have a clear game plan or future path for their lives. This experience went hand in hand with the pressure to achieve – to excel in current activities or to be the most impressive. Grind culture also emerged through the negative pressures teenagers felt about their looks, their activism, even their social life and friendships.

The answer isn’t simply to get teenagers off Strava. Unless we are content to play an endless game of hitting with new technologies, we need to look deeper. These pressures come from several sources. For example, teens most often said pressure on their game plan came from teachers, counselors, coaches, and other adults at school (47%), themselves (44%), and parents and family members them (39%). These were the top three sources reported by those who also feel pressure to achieve (38%, 48% and 34% respectively).

Social media ranked fourth on the list of sources of both game plan and performance pressure. It clearly amplifies pressures in real ways for significant proportions of teenagers. Like a 10^th The classmate said: “The social media – based on my feed – that I see is all these really successful people… like people my age and all their achievements. So I feel like I end up comparing myself even more to personal friends or classmates.”

But when it comes to the influence of technology, there is no simple title. The complex reality is this: some teens said social media only makes things worse, some said it only helps, some said it does both, and some said it does neither. They more often indicated that social media is making it worse rather than helping. Social games were different, acting as a kind of pressure relief valve or at least a temporary distraction. The negative influence of social media was most pronounced for appearance pressure, which is not surprising, since many applications focus on visual content and ready-made filters. There are other kinds of problems downstream, given the landscape of misinformation and disinformation online. We are at an all-time low when it comes to people trust in American institutions. It’s worth noting that cynicism is a hallmark symptom of burnout.

When not banished, healthy habits seem to provide the protective buffer one would hope for. We also asked about self-care practices, such as how often in the past week they slept at least seven hours, exercised for an hour, spent time outside, had meaningful conversations with friends, s- engaged in creative activities, helped others, or did something “just for fun” or for relaxation. Most teens had done each of these things at some point during the previous week, but they weren’t something they reported doing “most days.” One in seven did not get involved any practice self-care most days. Teens with low self-care were 5.6 times more likely to say they experienced burnout (34%) compared to those with high self-care (6%).

In focus groups, adolescents described barriers to self-care, including giving up technology, but also, in particular, constraints on their time and beliefs that self-care is not “productive.” A teenage girl reflected on the feeling of guilt when reading a book for pleasure; another explained that spending time in nature has “no visible product.” Getting teens off their devices won’t be a fix for teens who have made it clear to us, “if you’re not consistently performing at an amazing rate, you’re not doing enough. You are not enough.”

Social media can be like fuel to the fires that burn some teenagers. Big tech may deserve the attention it’s getting, especially as some companies resist changes that would benefit teens’ well-being at the expense of “time spent” on apps.

But to fix mental health trends, we need to broaden our focus beyond Instagram and TikTok: to other technologies, and even to the Stravification of the school in the form of educational technology platforms that constantly pressurize students and parents with endless performance updates. We also have to deal with pressures outside of social media. LGBTQ+ teens struggle with more negative pressure in every area we studied and also with more burnout.

We also need to deepen our focus: get to the root of the various worries and concerns of young people. The game plan and performance pressures may be driven in part by families’ concerns about ensuring their children have a stable and secure economic life, especially in light of dramatic situations. rising housing and tuition costs across generations. Some teenagers are overscheduled; some juggle high school with schedules filled not with activities but with long work hours and intense adult responsibilities.

The best way to deal with the current crisis is to insure yourself debates on the impact of social media on mental health it doesn’t distract us from clear thinking and good problem solving. Teenagers have insights that can light the way forward, but only if we are willing to listen.

Emily Weinstein is a social scientist and research fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she co-founded the Center for Digital Prosperity. With Carrie James, she wrote the book “Behind Their Screens: What Teens Face (And Adults Miss).” Sara Konrath is a social psychologist at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, where she directs the Interdisciplinary Program for Empathy and Altruism Research.