Social media seems baked into the lives of children and teens today. We see it. But the stats back it up too! 95% of 13-17 year-olds and 40% of 8-12 year-olds report using social media sites (YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, etc.). At the same time, mental health difficulties in children and adolescents are at an all-time high. But what are the connections between social media and mental health in youth?
Understandably, widespread social media has professionals concerned about how its use is affecting our children, teens, and young adults. But how bad is it? The truth is (in the words of many a Facebook relationship status), it’s complicated!
Research actually shows a mixed bag of positive and negative effects. Positive impacts of social media use include sense of connection, acceptance and belonging, and feeling supported. Young people appear to benefit from its entertainment, maintaining friendships, building social support networks, exploring identity, and creative expression.
Research also shows social media use is associated with low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, increased suicidal risk, poor body image, sleep disturbance. These may be related to issues of preoccupation, like frequently checking sites (even in the middle of the night) or negative self-comparisons. Other concerns issues include exposure to pernicious content (e.g., images of self-harm, hate speech), cyberbullying, or exploitation, and more.
Interestingly, the strength of these negative effects found in studies were weaker than expected. Adverse effects appear to be very serious and severe for some. But research so far fortunately suggests that such detriment may be less common than feared.
Some research indicates that professionals tend to overestimate the harms (or severity of them) and underestimate the positive effects of social media and mental health for youth. While youth estimates tend to go the opposite direction. Shocking, right? The reality is, we just don’t know enough about the cause or extent of either the harms or benefits.
There is still a lot that research is trying to understand about the effects of social media use on youth mental health. There is still a lot we don’t know about long term effects or which specific factors contribute to positive and negative impacts. So far, it appears that some things are helpful and others are harmful. Continued research will make us better equipped to guide our young people toward beneficial ways to engage with social media.
