What Changes During Adolescence?

Find a therapist to support kids and teens

Teenage romantic breakups have been radically influced by social media, texting and the use of AI.

Breakups often use digital means, including ghosting, blocking or online harassment.

All three may have negative social, emotional, and behavioral consequences for the recipient.

Parents, caregivers and peers may help the teen weather a breakup and maintain their identity and integrity.

Co-authors: Charles Egnatz and Kadijah Booth Watkins

"Mm, I didn’t wanna leave you, I didn’t wanna lie/Started to cry, but then remembered/I can buy myself flowers/Write my name in the sand/Talk to myself for hours/Say things you don’t understand" —Miley Cyrus

Teen romance looks very different today than it did a generation ago. Texting, social media, and even AI chatbots have changed how teens connect, communicate, and even break up with one another. While digital spaces can help teens feel closer and more supported, they can bring new challenges including ghosting, blocking and harassment. And those who sustain or initiate a breakup, as noted by Miley Cyrus, need to find new ways to preserve one’s identity and integrity.

In the days prior to digital media, we had the telephone, or we could meet up after school, or at a local park or mall. Hanging out was never an immediate thing. Though new relationships and breakups occurred, they took time for word to get out. And on the negative side, if there were bad feelings, name calling, bullying, competition and comparisons, the time and scope of the assault was never immediate — nor was the scope of who could find out and who did what to whom.

For advice, you had to go to someone – a relative, counselor, parent – not AI. It seemed more personal, but we know that AI........

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