Title: Social Media and Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Mental Health | National Center for Health Research
Headings: Social Media and Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Mental Health
Social Media and Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Mental Health
What are the different social media platforms and how are they used?
The benefits of social media
Is social media related to mental health problems?
What can parents do?
Tips for managing social media use
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Content: It can help young people form communities, keep in touch with friends who do not live nearby, and it can provide a place to get social support.5,6 Social media can provide a valuable connection to one’s peers. Is social media related to mental health problems? Although social media can allow people to reach out and connect with others, it can also make some people feel worse.7 Almost 25% of adolescents believe that social media has a mostly negative effect.1
With 13% of 12-17 year olds reporting depression and 32% reporting anxiety, mental illness is a concern for adolescent health.8 It is a concern for young adults as well, since 25% of 18-25 year olds report having some form of mental illness.9 Depression is particularly increasing among girls.10 Some researchers have suggested that this increase in mental illness is, at least in part, connected to the rise of social media use among adolescents and young adults.10
How might social media harm mental health? Many studies have found an association between time spent on social media as well as the number of social media platforms used, and symptoms of depression and anxiety.7,11 Most of these studies indicate that time spent on social media is correlated with depression and anxiety, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that social media causes these problems. It is unclear whether using social media leads to depression and anxiety symptoms, or if people who are already more depressed or more anxious use social media more than their peers do. However, there is research that suggests that social media use might, at least to some degree, lead to these symptoms. For example, in one study from 2020, people who deactivated their Facebook account for a month reported lower depression and anxiety, as well as increases in happiness and life satisfaction.12
Researchers believe that one problem is that social media use can disrupt sleep, and poor sleep can lead to anxiety and depression.2,13 Social media use at night disrupts sleep in a number of ways: People stay up late online, the light from the screen can disrupt one’s circadian rhythm, and many people wake up in the night in order to check or respond to messages.14 Adolescents report that they use social media at night, even when it affects their sleep. They worry that if they do not use their phone at night, they will miss out on potential social interactions online, which they believe would have a negative effect on their in-person social relationships.14 Also, adolescents report that their peers expect them to be online and available at night. There is a social norm to respond to messages quickly, and they don’t want to violate that norm by sleeping through their messages.13 Many adolescents report sleeping with their phone and checking it constantly at night.2
In fact, teens and young adults often worry about what they call FoMO, which stands for “fear of missing out,” which is anxiety about missing out on experiences.