Is your Teenage Kid suffering from Depression? An SMS Tracker Could Tell you the Answer
Admit it! We text a lot! This statement holds true; especially for teenagers. Have you ever wondered whether your teenager’s texting habits could mean that your teenage kid is suffering from depression? If you are seeing your teenage kid glued to his/her smartphone and texting along for a major portion of the day then it could be that he/she is suffering from stress, anxiety, and depression and is trying to seek solace via texting. While hyper-texting in itself doesn’t cause depression it can be one of the major factors contributing to it since too-much-texting can actually hinder the development of face-to-face interpersonal skills and result in an inability to concentrate and focus.
Hyper-texting can also make your kid entirely dependent on texting alone, as the preferred mode of communication even affecting the confidence of your kid when interacting with people in a real-life social environment. Since he/she will find it more difficult to adjust to a face-to-face mode of communication it can lead to them detaching him/herself physically from society with only his/her virtual self a part of the social scene. Moreover, as mentioned above, hyper-texting can result in lack of concentration and focus which ultimately is one of the most common reasons for developing stress, anxiety, and depression.
Beware of the Hyper-Texting Cycle of Stress, Anxiety & Depression
If this habit is allowed to continue then it may lead to your teenager developing self hatred. Texting people becomes the only way for them to seek comfort, their disappointment and/or misery further fueling hyper-texting. Thus, it can become a cycle. Hyper-texting can lead to lack of confidence when it comes to talking to people face-to-face and teenagers can develop an inability to concentrate on daily mandatory tasks. This, in turn, ultimately leads to a situation where your teen might feel that he/she is not accepted by the society and texting, therefore, could be adopted as a way to seek solace from the stress and anxiety which, in reality, was indirectly caused by too-much-texting and not enough face-to-face socialising.
Research by psychologists has shown that teens, when in a relationship, rely more on texting as a preferred mode of communication since it is an easy and convenient way to be in touch. Yes! It is true! But solely relying on texting in a relationship, without supplementing it with face-to-face encounters, it can result in someone losing a sense of connection and empathy. Without the sight of someone’s face, without listening to someone’s voice and without experiencing the behavioural-language of someone’s body; it is extremely difficult to maintain a strong foundation in a relationship. This, in turn, leads to break-ups and ultimately stress, anxiety and depression affecting a person.
What is the Solution? As a first, if your teenage kid is not communicating with you properly, you could use the help of an SMS tracker to view all sent/ received and even deleted text messages over WhatsApp, Facebook, SnapChat and other social-media messenger applications. The text messages can easily show you the mind set and the mental state which your teenager might be facing. SMS Tracker is one of the best applications to do so as it also comes with GPS location tracking as well as a keylogger. Moreover, it is compatible with iOS, Android, Windows as well as MAC.
Secondly, it is the time to act and have a friendly face-to-face chat. Make your teenager feel comfortable with you so that he/she can open up regarding the way he/she feels. Thereafter, you can help your child feel much better and ultimately help them to get rid of all the bad elements that he/she was surrounded by.
Sometimes parenting requires further intervention and discretion and SMS trackers can provide a solution to manage teenage depression, isolation and withdrawal.
Mandy X
Author: Mandy Kloppers
Mandy is a qualified therapist who treats depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, trauma, and many other types of mental health issues. She provides online therapy around the world for those needing support and also provides relationship counselling.
