Social Media and Teen Mental Health
The U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 Social Media and Youth Mental Health advisory outlines the latest scientific evidence regarding social media’s effects on youth mental health. The report recommends actions that policymakers, technology companies, parents and others can take to ensure the online safety of young people. This post highlights key findings from the advisory, along with recent data updates on teen social media use.
Key Takeaways
- Teenagers’ use of social media is widespread and pervasive.
- Social media use can benefit teens, but it can also be detrimental to a young user’s health, with potential harms including sleep deficits, depression, poor self-image and more.
- While more research is needed, concerns are rising among experts, parents, young people and others about the effects of social media on teen mental health.
- Major causes of concern include excessive and problematic social media use, as well as exposure to harmful content.
- As adolescence is a critical phase of brain development, the impact of social media during this vulnerable period requires urgent attention.
- Families, tech companies, policymakers and others must work together to create safer and healthier social media environments for young people.
Key Drivers of Social Media Impact on Teen Mental Health
A number of factors shape social media’s effects on adolescent mental well-being, including:
- How much time youth spend on the platforms.
- The type of content they consume.
- The interactions and activities they experience.
- How much their social media use disrupts healthy daily activities.
Social media tools are, by design, filled with click-bait content and accessible 24–7, aiming to maximize user engagement. Some researchers suggest that these tools elicit a gratifying dopamine response in users that can lead to psychological cravings, similar to addition. The result can be excessive and problematic social media activity, such as compulsive or uncontrollable use.
Current Levels of Teen Social Media Use
Virtually all teens (96%) ages 13 to 17 use the internet daily, with nearly half saying they are online “almost constantly,” according to a 2024 Pew Research survey. Of the five most commonly used social media apps — Youtube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook —a third of teens report using one or more of these “almost constantly.” While most U.S. social media platforms require users to be at least 13 years old, an estimated 64% of kids ages 8 to 12 — including the oldest members of Generation Alpha — use YouTube and TikTok every day.
The Surgeon General’s advisory noted that adolescents who use social media more than three hours per day face twice the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes. Unfortunately, mounting data indicate that the youth social media use frequently exceeds that time. For instance:
- A recent Gallup survey found that U.S. teens ages 13 to 19 use social media an average of 4.8 hours every day, with just over half (51%) spending a minimum of four hours a day on these platforms.
- The same survey found that young teens aged 13 had the lowest social media use average, at 4.1 hours a day, while 17-year-olds had the highest average, at 5.8 hours per day.
- Screen time is alarmingly high for younger Gen Alpha children, too, with a 2024 survey finding that 65% of kids ages 8 to 10 spend up to 4 hours a day on social media.
Read more about the effects of social media on Gen Alpha.
How Does Social Media Affect Teens?
Social media use can affect teenagers in both positive and negative ways. Researchers are still evaluating the long-term effects of social media, due to the newness of the technology. However, a growing body of evidence strongly links heavy social media use among teenagers to a number of negative outcomes.
Negative Effects of Social Media on Teen Mental and Physical Health
Numerous studies show that higher levels of social media use among children and adolescents are linked to wide-ranging adverse effects:
- depression and anxiety;
- inadequate sleep (which can disrupt neurological development and lead to depression and suicidal behaviors);
- low self-esteem;
- poor body image;
- eating disorder behaviors; and
- online harassment.
In addition to heavy social media use, problematic use (e.g., addictive behavior) and harmful content exposure are key concerns. Problematic social media use, for example, is associated with attention deficit problems.
Harmful and inappropriate social media content could include anything from risk-taking challenges and depictions of self-harm acts to hate-based, sexual or other violent content. Research shows that exposure to harmful social media content can normalize and promote unsafe behavior in youth. Young people also can be exposed to predatory behavior, bullying or harassment online.
Many of these risks are greater for girls versus boys and for those already experiencing mental health issues. Additional findings from the advisory include:
- Nearly 2 in 3 adolescents are “often” or “sometimes” exposed to hate-based content on social media.
- Studies have found a connection between social media cyberbullying and depression among young people.
- Teen girls and LGBTQ youth are more likely to experience cyberbullying and online harassment, which can lead to poor emotional health.
- Almost 6 in 10 teen girls reported being contacted by strangers on social media in ways that made them feel uncomfortable.
Benefits of Social Media on Teen Mental Health
There are also pros to teens using social media, such as:
- Social engagement and support, including keeping in touch with existing friends and classmates as well as discovering new connections with broader peer groups than may be available offline.
- Opportunities for creativity and self-expression.
- Community engagement and connection with networks of mutually shared interests.
- Expanded access to information and services (for example: online therapy).
Social media use can be particularly useful for connecting marginalized young people, such as sexual and gender minorities. For instance, according to the Surgeon General’s advisory, social media may boost the mental health of LGBTQ youth by:
- fostering connections with peers;
- facilitating identity development; and
- enabling social support.
Similar benefits have been found for youth of color. For example, 7 in 10 teen girls of color reported experiencing positive or identity-affirming content related to race on social media. For teens overall, a majority (58%) say that these platforms help them feel more accepted.
Adolescence Is a Vulnerable Phase of Development
The mounting evidence regarding social media’s adverse effects on youth is especially concerning given that adolescence is a critical period of development, when different areas of the brain begin to integrate and the prefrontal cortex develops at an accelerated pace.
In this phase of development, the adolescent brain is especially open to learning and growing, and teens may have intensified sensitivity to the nature of social media, according to the Surgeon General’s advisory.
Adolescence also involves profound physiological changes — young people are simultaneously navigating increasing autonomy, forming their identities, developing relationships and more. Given these factors, experts warn that social media use during this vulnerable phase warrants particular attention.
Signs Social Media Use is Negatively Impacting Your Teen
There is no set playbook to identify unhealthy social media use. While no provided in the Surgeon General’s advisory, organizations like the American Psychological Association offer warning signs for parents. Examples of factors to watch out for include social media use that leads a teen to:
- Miss out on real-world friendships and socialization opportunities.
- Become highly self-critical (often due to comparisons to false realities presented on social media).
- Miss healthy daily activities or routines, like regular physical activity or school commitments.
- Feel increased levels of anxiety, stress or isolation.
- Struggle to concentrate at school or at work.
- Fail to sleep soundly or get a good night’s rest.
- Demonstrate cravings or deceptive behavior to use social media or the inability to stop using it.
- Stop practicing positive self-care.
Read more about tips on social media safety for teens.
How to Protect Teens on Social Media
While social media offers benefits for some, growing evidence of its potential harm to many children and youth has led the Surgeon General to issue an urgent, cross-sector call to action.
The Surgeon General notes that policymakers, tech companies, researchers, funders, families, advocates and others must work together on multi-pronged strategies to create safe and healthy social media environments for young people. The call to action also includes targeted guidance for key groups.
For Policymakers
The Surgeon General advises policymakers to take steps to strengthen protections for children interacting with all social media platforms. This advice involves, among other items:
- Developing age-appropriate health and safety standards.
- Requiring a higher standard of data privacy for children.
- Strengthening and enforcing age minimums.
Additional guidance to policymakers includes:
- Ensuring technology companies share data relevant to the health effects of their platforms.
- Supporting increased funding for future research on both the benefits and harms of social media use and other technology and digital media use for children, adolescents and families.
For Technology Companies
The Surgeon General’s advice to technology companies includes:
- Adequately and independently assessing the impact of social media on children and adolescents.
- Prioritizing user health and safety when designing and developing social media products and services to minimize harm to children and teens, in particular.
- Creating effective and timely systems for investigating the requests and complaints of young people, families, educators and others.
For Parents and Caregivers
Action items for parents and caregivers covers these and other actions:
- Creating a family media plan with agreed-upon expectations to establish healthy social media boundaries at home.
- Creating tech-free zones and encouraging in-person interactions, which may involve limiting use of devices around bedtime and mealtimes, prioritizing family relationships and building social bonds.
- Modeling responsible social media behavior, as children often learn from what they see around them.
Learn More About Social Media and Teen Mental Health
- Read our tips on Social Media Safety for Teens.
- Learn more about the Effects of Social Media on Mental Health.
- Read the U.S. Surgeon General’s full Social Media and Youth Mental Health advisory.
- See the American Psychological Association’s 2023 Health Advisory on Social Media Use in Adolescence.
- Learn more about Gen Z and Mental Health.
- Access state and U.S. data on children and teens with anxiety or depression and all mental health data on the KIDS COUNT® Data Center.
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