STUDENTS, SOCIAL MEDIA AND SELF-ESTEEM

Finding ways to communicate with your teen can be confusing and difficult for both parties when neither of you know how to help. This is the situation of one mother, Donna S., who found herself having difficulty communicating with her teenage daughter about her physical appearance.

Donna noticed a change in her daughter right when she started junior high, which was also when she got her first smartphone and began using social media. Her daughter was noticeably depressed, constantly degrading her appearance, and consistently asking to go shopping for new clothes. Despite the constant requests, Donna recalls clothes shopping as one of the worst experiences when it came to her daughter’s self-esteem and physical appearance.

Almost every shopping