Linda Kaye

The Conversation Africa

For older generations, social media might feel like a specific and often new way of interacting – markedly different from meeting in person or talking on the phone.

For most teenagers, though, it is part of an interconnected social landscape. They may not necessarily need to distinguish social connections as either online or offline.

These can be fluid across digital and physical spaces. But there are nuances to interacting on social media – and&nbsp;teens are often acutely aware&nbsp;of them.

Social media accounts are often characterised by what is known as&nbsp;context collapse. This means that there are multiple different types of audiences in a single context.

A post on Instagram or TikTok might be viewed by friends and other teenagers, but also teachers, parents, or family members.

<h2>Understanding social media audiences</h2>

When posting online, teens will be negotiating these audiences, perhaps aiming a post at their friends, but making sure the content is still appropriate for other types of audiences.

This, in some cases, might explain why teenagers (like many others) may be drawn towards more&nbsp;protected or private channels. These include Snapchat group chats, WhatsApp groups or close friends lists on Instagram.

Parents might think their teen is being secretive by using closed channels like this. However, the social connections that can occur here are likely to be the most authentic and valuable in terms of building connections with friends.

These smaller or more self-contained types of social connections may also encourage more&nbsp;active types of social media use, such as voice messages, replying to threads and video calls.

Psychological evidence&nbsp;suggests that more active types of social media behaviour are related to greater perceptions of social belonging, when compared to more passive types of social media engagement, such as simply scrolling through a feed.

These active kinds of social media use could support teens’ expression of their identity, and therefore, feelings of social support and belonging.

Social media can also present teens with opportunities for&nbsp;experimentation and discovery. For example, for those who identify as LBGTQ+, joining relevant social media groups can provide them with an opportunity to explore their own identity and gain&nbsp;social support from others.

Beyond this, curating their own social media accounts can help teenagers build their identities. In many cases, the teen may be reclaiming ownership of their identity from how it might have been built and curated by their parents.

<h2>Social cues on social media</h2>

On the other hand, the way social media makes the subtleties of friendships and peer relationships explicit can create difficulties.

Features and functions such as “remove friend” or “follow”, provide concrete markers on the boundaries of relationships or connections that don’t exist in the offline world.

“Likes” and “reactions” from others&nbsp;provide feedback&nbsp;that can affect a teen’s perception of whether they are receiving social approval or validation.

An absence of these cues, or inactivity within social interactions, such as being “<a data-link-role-code="open_new_tab" href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/dating-whatsapp-read-receipts-no-reply-b2422496.html">left on read</a>” or a post going unliked, might feed into perceptions of social disapproval or worse still, feelings of social rejection.

This may have particular significance for teenagers because peer relationships hold crucial importance in adolescence.

Teenagers typically value the&nbsp;opinions and approval&nbsp;of their friends and peers more than others, such as their parents or siblings.

What’s more, teenagers typically place particularly high value on&nbsp;social approval.

This means that they may be more sensitive to whether or not they have validation from their peers on social media. It might also explain why higher social media use in adolescence has been linked to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29296-3">lower life satisfaction</a>.

In many ways, there are lessons we can learn from how teenagers use social media. In general, they appear to be much better equipped than their older counterparts to self-censor and curate the various aspects of their identities across different channels.

This suggests they are much more socially aware and attuned to the way these are interpreted by various audiences.

Teenagers’ ability to move fluidly between online and offline environments may make them better than older adults at recognising that how they behave on social media may have direct social consequences in the real world.

A teenager sitting on a desk while holding a phone [Image Credit: Cottonbro Studio]

Social connections online and offline can be fluid, but there are nuances to interacting on social media – and teens are often acutely aware of them. This article highlights how teenagers navigate nuances of social media, and what adults can learn from them.

How teenagers navigate the nuances of social media – and what adults can learn

Andy Phippen

I spend my career researching young people and the internet: what they do online, what they think about it and how their views differ from those of their parents.

I often get questions from parents about their children’s internet use. One of the most common is when to get their child a mobile phone, as well as how to keep them safe when they have one. Here are my answers to some key questions.

<h2>How old should my child be when they get their first phone?</h2>

I’m afraid I often disappoint parents in my answer to this question by not giving them a definite number. But the key here is what your child is going to use the phone for – and when might be suitable for that individual child.

According to a&nbsp;2023 report&nbsp;by UK communications regulator Ofcom, 20% of three-year-olds now own a mobile phone. But this phone may just be used for taking pictures, playing simple games and supervised video calls with family.

The more pertinent question is when children should have their own fully-connected phone, which they can use unsupervised to contact others online.

When a child is primary school age, they will likely be used to adult supervision in most aspects of their life. They will either be at school, at home, with friends and trusted adults or with other family members.

Their need to contact a distant adult may not be that great – but you will want to think about what the specific needs of your child might be.

Typically the transition from primary school to secondary is when children might be more distant from home, or be involved in school activities or socialising with friends where being able to contact home becomes more important. I have spoken to plenty of young people who talk about starting secondary school as the point where they first had their own phone.

<h2>How do I make sure they use a phone safely?</h2>

First of all, it’s important that if your child is going online – at whatever age and regardless of the device they’re using – you have a conversation with them about online safety.

Parents have a role to play in educating their children and making them aware of the risks that come with being online, as well as being mindful that most online experiences&nbsp;<a data-link-role-code="open_new_tab" href="https://theconversation.com/why-children-dont-talk-to-adults-about-the-problems-they-encounter-online-202304">are not harmful</a>.

I have carried out&nbsp;extensive research&nbsp;with young people on online harms. As part of this research, I and colleagues developed a number of&nbsp;resources for parents, put together with the help of over 1,000 young people.

What these young people say the most is they want to know who to turn to when they need help. They want to be confident they will receive support, not a telling-off or confiscation of their phone.

This means that a key first step is to reassure your child that they can come to you with any problems they encounter and you will help them without judgment.

It’s also important to discuss with your child what they can and can’t do with their device. This could mean, for instance, setting ground rules about which apps they can have installed on their phone, and when they should stop using their phone at the end of the day.

You should also explore the privacy settings for the apps that your child uses, to ensure that they cannot be contacted by strangers or access inappropriate content. The NSPCC&nbsp;has resources&nbsp;for parents on how to use privacy settings.

<h2>Should I check my child’s phone?</h2>

Sometimes parents ask me about whether they should be able to check a child’s device – either by physically looking at the phone or by using “safetytech”, software on another device that can access the communications on the child’s phone.

I believe it’s important that this is also something you discuss with your child. Trust is important to ensure that your child comes to you with any online issues, so if you want to monitor their phone, talk to them about it rather than doing so covertly.

It seems reasonable parental supervision to be accessing a child’s device when they are of primary age, in the same way, a parent would check with another child’s parent before agreeing to let them visit their home.

However, as your child gets older, they might not want their parent to see all of their messages and online interactions. The&nbsp;<a data-link-role-code="open_new_tab" href="https://www.unicef.org.uk/what-we-do/un-convention-child-rights/">UN Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>&nbsp;clearly states that a child does have a right to privacy.

<h2>Should I track my child’s location through their phone?</h2>

I have spoken to some families that track each other’s devices in an open and transparent manner, and this is a decision for the family. However, I have also spoken to children who find it very creepy that a teenage friend is tracked by their parents.

The question here is whether parents are reassuring themselves that their child is safe – or whether they want to know what they are doing without them knowing.

I had a particularly memorable conversation with someone who told me their friend was extremely upset because their daughter had changed devices and so they could no longer track her. When I asked how old the daughter was, they said she was 22.

It’s also worth considering whether tech like this provides false reassurance. It may allow parents to know where their child is, but not necessarily whether they are safe.

As with monitoring a child’s phone, it is worth reflecting upon whether a surveillance approach creates the ideal conditions for them to come to you with problems, or whether this is more likely to be fostered by open conversations and an environment of mutual trust.

Girl sitting on her desk while using her smartphone [Image: RDNE Stock Project]

When to give your child their first mobile phone and how to keep them safe. First of all, it’s important that if your child is going online – at whatever age and regardless of the device they’re using – you have a conversation with them about online safety.

When to give your child their first mobile phone & how to keep them safe

Jo Adetunji

Among the most common, and arguably the most meaningful, tracking method for daily physical activity is step counting.

Counting steps is far more than a fad: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services dedicated a sizable portion of its&nbsp;<a href="https://health.gov/our-work/nutrition-physical-activity/physical-activity-guidelines/current-guidelines/scientific-report">most recent physical activity guidelines</a>&nbsp;to documenting the relationship between daily step counts and several chronic diseases.

Unfortunately, the guidelines have little to say about how step counts might be used to aid in weight management, an outcome of critical importance given the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity">high rates of overweight and obesity</a>&nbsp;in the U.S.

I am a&nbsp;<a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=CLsN-g0AAAAJ&amp;hl=en">professor of exercise science</a>&nbsp;at Kennesaw State University, and our lab has been conducting&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.23736/s0022-4707.21.12038-9">studies examining relationships among step counts</a>&nbsp;and a number of health outcomes.

While the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity">evidence is clear</a>&nbsp;that increasing numbers of adults are living in a chronic energy surplus that leads to weight gain, a key question is – why?

What has changed so dramatically since 1980 that could explain why obesity rates have tripled?

Although the American diet is likely a key contributor, a wealth of research points to a reduction in physical activity as a major culprit behind the expanding waist lines – and step counts are an excellent indicator of physical activity.

<h2>Step counts may – or may not – lead to weight loss</h2>

A number of recent studies have looked at whether increasing step counts can lead to weight loss over a certain period of time.

One large-scale study called a meta-analysis concluded that increasing physical activity by way of step counts was effective for&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1370%2Fafm.761">attaining modest weight loss</a>.

However, many if not most studies examining the effect of&nbsp;<a href="https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/fulltext/1999/11001/physical_activity_in_the_treatment_of_the.10.aspx">exercise on weight loss report modest outcomes</a>, with results that are variable and often disappointing.

That may be in part because the step count targets used in many weight management studies are most often set in an arbitrary manner, such as targeting 10,000 steps per day.

Or, if they’re individualized at all, they’re based on initial behavioral characteristics, like adding a given number of steps to what a person is already accumulating in a typical day.

Rarely, if ever, are the step targets in research studies based on any physical attributes of the participants.

My team’s research has compiled weight, body fat percentages and average step counts for large numbers of adults between 19 and 40 years of age.

From that data, we have identified a way to determine specific step count goals based on key physical attributes – namely, baseline body weight and composition, and the desired body composition.

When it comes to health, it is important to remember that body weight does not tell the whole story.

In fact, body composition is much more predictive of health status than body weight. Someone who weighs more than another person may be in better health if they have more muscle mass and a lower percentage of body fat than the other person who weighs less but has a higher proportion of body fat.

<h2>Parsing the numbers</h2>

We have used our data to develop a model that predicts average daily step counts per unit of fat mass from body fat percentage.

We believe that this model can be used to determine how much people would need to walk to achieve a specific amount of weight and body fat reduction.

Take, for instance, a man who weighs 175 pounds (80 kilograms), of which 25% is fat. Our model suggests that he walks an average of 10,900 steps a day.

Then consider another man who weighs 220 pounds (100 kilograms), of which 20% is fat. Although they have different amounts of lean mass, both men have about 44 pounds (20 kilograms) of fat.

So our model predicts that the heavier man walks an average of 15,300 steps a day. In other words, the heavier person has a lower percentage of body fat and walks more to maintain that leaner body composition.

A person’s body fat percentage is every bit as important as their weight. That’s because how much muscle you have affects&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12257">how hungry you get</a>, as well as how many calories you burn.

Muscle mass requires energy to maintain, and this requirement leads to increased appetite, which means taking in more calories.

In this example, the heavier man probably eats more than the lighter man in order to maintain his lean muscle mass, and he must walk more to maintain his lower body fat percentage.

A group of men and women in training gear walking

If you want to lose body fat, and therefore weight, you basically have two choices: You can eat less, or you can move more.

Eating less means you’ll be hungry a lot, and that’s uncomfortable, unpleasant and, for most people, not sustainable. Moving more, on the other hand, can allow you to eat until you’re full and keep body fat off – or even lose it.

Therefore, we wanted to know how much a person who eats until they’re full might have to move to offset the calories they’re eating.

<h2>Step counts for weight loss</h2>

Currently, our model applies to young adults, but we are now collecting data for middle-aged and older adults too.

To use this model, you need to first have your body composition determined, a service that is being offered by increasing numbers of fitness centres and medical practices.

With our model, you must determine your body weight and fat weight in kilograms – to do this, simply divide your weight in pounds by 2.2.

With this information in hand, our model can provide a step count target that is specific to a person’s current body weight and body fat percentage, and their goal for fat loss and weight reduction.

For example, our model predicts that a woman weighing 155 pounds (70 kilograms) with 30% body fat currently accumulates an average of about 8,700 steps per day.

If she wants to lose about 10 pounds and reach a body fat percentage of around 25%, she could consult the model and discover that people who maintain that body composition accumulate an average of about 545 steps per kilogram of fat per day.

Since she currently has about 46 pounds (21 kilograms) of fat, her goal would be to accumulate a total of 11,450 steps per day.

While that may seem at first glance to be a sizable increase in daily steps, most people can accumulate 1,000 steps in 10 minutes or less.

So even with a comfortable pace, this additional daily dose of walking would take fewer than 30 minutes. <a target="_blank" class="editor-link" href="https://www.pdf4sure.com/pdf-to-jpg">Convert JPG Document to PDF</a>

Furthermore, steps can be accumulated throughout the day, with longer or more frequent trips, or both, to restrooms, vending machines and the like.

While steps certainly can be accumulated in dedicated walking sessions, such as a 15-minute walk during lunch hour and another 15-minute walk in the evening, they can also be accumulated in shorter, more frequent bouts of activity.

Researchers have learned a great deal in the past 70 years about appetite and energy expenditure.

Appetite imposes a drive for food based largely on our fat-free mass, no matter how active or inactive we are, and we must accumulate enough physical activity to counter the calories that we take in through our diet if we want to maintain an energy balance – or exceed our intake to lose weight.

How to use smartphones to monitor daily activity levels and use it to to assist you manage your weight through step counting

Tracking daily step counts can be a useful tool for weight management

Loneliness is a much-discussed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2018/09/01/loneliness-is-a-serious-public-health-problem">social issue</a>, but it is rarely considered to be a workplace problem that needs to be managed like other health issues at work.

However, people are often unaware particular work roles, environments, responsibilities and work-related relocation are often what causes loneliness.

These work conditions may cause social isolation, distort interpersonal relationships, and prevent employees from developing or maintaining social connections – all of which are a catalyst for loneliness.

The expression 'it is lonely at the top' suggests senior managers or chief executives are especially likely to suffer from loneliness.

Their position and associated power make authentic workplace relationships rare because they are socially and psychologically distanced from most people in their organisation.

As leaders, they are held responsible for making significant decisions. Having nobody to share the risks and responsibilities with is an implicit social deficiency that increases workplace loneliness.

Similarly, loneliness is also a classic occupational hazard for business entrepreneurs who are prepared to take risks in pursuit of goals developing their own businesses.

It appears that the loneliness experienced by entrepreneurs has not changed over 40 years. Entrepreneurs’ responsibilities for running and developing their businesses substantially reduce the time they can share with families and friends.

Entrepreneurs may also have to withhold negative information about the business and pose a strong and positive image to others in order to retain resources and support for their companies. The nature of this line of work turns them into “lone wolves”.

Loneliness is also found among employees relocated overseas by their multinational corporations. It is&nbsp;common among expatriates&nbsp;separated from their social networks, to find it difficult to develop new connections because of cultural differences, language barriers or insufficient social resources.

Remote work accelerated by the COVID pandemic has given people the flexibility to work from home but it has also worsened social isolation as a result of fewer opportunities for informal chats and face-to-face bonding with colleagues and managers.

Shot of a young businessman using a laptop during a late night at work

Although most companies are keen to see workers return to offices, the continuation of hybrid forms of working creates challenges in addressing work-related loneliness as many people continue to work partly from home.

Similarly, digital technology has created another modern work phenomenon, gig work. While gig workers may enjoy flexible schedules, the nature of their work provides few opportunities to develop deep relationships with colleagues.

Given the pervasiveness of workplace loneliness and the challenges it poses, it is surprising that there is little public awareness of how to deal with it.

To stimulate more interest in this topic and to help ease this modern pandemic, our research, soon to be released, proposes resource-based solutions to combat loneliness. We also identify strategies for both individuals and organisations to deal with loneliness:

<h2>Strategies for individuals</h2>

•&nbsp;Understand your desired level of social goals

Loneliness arises when desired social relations are not satisfied by actual relations. People need to be clear about their social needs at work.

Some may be happy with a few strong relationships, some may prefer broad but weak social connections. Understanding personal social goals helps employees notice when they might need to develop appropriate strategies to battle loneliness.

•&nbsp;Evaluate personal resources that make developing social connections difficult

Employees need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of personal factors and change them if they are preventing social connections.

For instance, is the lack of contact caused by our personality, lack of social skills, or low social motivation? As individuals, we cultivate our social connections, so we are the key to shaping them.

•&nbsp;Do not waste daily resources

Time, energy and mood are also resources, but they fluctuate daily. They can also be used to achieve social goals. We all have regular feelings of being time-poor, tired, not wanting to talk to people or to be social.

This causes daily opportunities to develop connections to be wasted. Desired social relations are developed gradually, and we need work on this regularly to achieve our desired level of connection.

<h2>Strategies for companies</h2>

•&nbsp;Audit work practices and identify what causes social isolation

Organisations need to acknowledge that work practices can cause loneliness for employees and find creative solutions.

For example, they could reduce work intensity and give employees time to socialise; they could help expatriates maintain old social bonds and develop new connections in their new work location.

•&nbsp;Remove social barriers for employees by cultivating an inclusive work environment

An inclusive environment is especially beneficial for demographically diverse employees. Organisations have the power to promote and normalise inclusion, shape employees’ social behaviours and help minority groups to develop desired social ties in the workplace.

•&nbsp;Provide opportunities for employees to have occasional and repeated face-to-face interactions

Organisations can offer a variety of socialising opportunities. These might include mentoring and support programs, social events, holiday celebrations, coffee breaks and team-building activities.

Of course, employees must be proactive and take charge of overcoming their loneliness. They can begin this by developing or expanding their repertoire of personal resources and by taking up opportunities offered by their employer.

These investments in alleviating workplace loneliness will result in employees having a stronger sense of belonging to organisations and being more productive.

The conversation Africa delves into how workplace loneliness is affecting businesses and killing top talent

Workplace loneliness is the modern pandemic damaging lives and hurting businesses

Shukri F. Mohamed

Hypertension, commonly referred to as high blood pressure, is a non-communicable disease that occurs when there is a sustained elevation in the pressure of the blood that flows through the arteries.

Adults in low and middle-income countries account for around&nbsp;75%&nbsp;of the global cases.

High blood pressure is a manageable condition through regular monitoring, lifestyle changes, and treatment.

However, untreated blood pressure, also known as uncontrolled hypertension, can lead to damage to organs such as the kidneys, heart, and brain. All of this increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and other serious health issues.

Being overweight can lead to high blood pressure

Globally,&nbsp;uncontrolled hypertension&nbsp;is a leading contributor to&nbsp;death.

In Kenya, the 2014-2015&nbsp;<a data-link-role-code="open_new_tab" href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-018-6052-y">national survey on non-communicable diseases</a>&nbsp;showed that high blood pressure contributed to a significant burden of disease. About&nbsp;one in four people&nbsp;have high blood pressure in the country.

The hypertension prevalence for&nbsp;Kenya (24.5%)&nbsp;is slightly lower than that of neighbouring countries such as&nbsp;Tanzania (26%)&nbsp;and&nbsp;Uganda (26.4%).

Research&nbsp;suggests that urban slum residents are 35% more likely to be hypertensive than people living in rural areas. In Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, around&nbsp;60% of the population&nbsp;lives in slums or slum-like conditions.&nbsp;

Previous&nbsp;research&nbsp;in&nbsp;Kenya’s urban slums&nbsp;shows high uncontrolled hypertension rates.

In our&nbsp;recent study, my colleagues and I wanted to understand the range of factors that put these people at risk for uncontrolled hypertension or protects them from it.

We found that the low socio-economic status of the slum residents, coupled with high medication prices, limited treatment.

<h3>Gaps in care persist in urban areas</h3>

Nairobi’s slum dwellers experience sub-optimal access to essential services. They face conditions that make informal settlements vulnerable to emergencies such as disease outbreaks and natural disasters.

File image of traffic on the Thika Superhighway

___7621486___2017___11___20___8___The+morning+traffic+jam+along+the+Thika+Super+highway+heading+to+Nairobi+CBD.

Even though there are effective treatments for hypertension, gaps in care persist in urban areas in Kenya, particularly among the poorest communities.

Our research aimed at understanding the barriers to blood pressure control at various levels – individual, family and community, health system and policy.

We collected data through interviews and focus groups in two Nairobi slums: Korogocho and Viwandani. We interviewed people who had uncontrolled hypertension, aiming to understand their experiences and perspectives about their care.

Healthcare providers were interviewed to gather information about their prescription practices, adherence to national guidelines and knowledge of hypertension.

We also interviewed decision-makers and policymakers to gain their views on the challenges faced in getting hypertension care in the study community.

The research identified barriers to blood pressure control across all the levels studied. Major bottlenecks were the high cost of hypertension medicines, the constant unavailability of medicines at health facilities, and an unsupportive family and environment.

In this&nbsp;study, access to medication was a major barrier to blood pressure control.

Countries such as&nbsp;Eritrea&nbsp;and&nbsp;South Africa&nbsp;provide free hypertension medications at the community level.

In Kenya, however, free medication is provided only at higher-level health facilities. Slum residents have access to lower-level facilities which are not mandated to provide hypertension medications.

A viable approach is to implement programmes with interventions capable of addressing the complex array of factors influencing hypertension care.

For instance, the provision of free or subsidised medicines would remove barriers that hinder patients’ access to hypertension medication.

It’s also essential to implement policies and directives to ensure equitable care for all, including those in slum communities seeking care at lower-level health facilities.

___8301747___2018___4___25___13___Kibera_slum_Nairobi_ritebook.in-001

The Conversation Africa

Articles written by the author

How teenagers navigate the nuances of social media – and what adults can learn

When to give your child their first mobile phone & how to keep them safe

Tracking daily step counts can be a useful tool for weight management

Workplace loneliness is the modern pandemic damaging lives and hurting businesses

Living in Nairobi’s slums, you are 35% more likely to get high blood pressure than those in rural areas