Can Social Media Cause Anxiety or Depression in Teens?
The impact of social media on teens’ mental well-being.
The short answer: Yes and no. There is a correlation between social media and the mental well-being of teens, but it doesn’t necessarily cause teenagers to develop mental health problems. It all depends on HOW and WHY you access social media.
Children and Teens’ Mental Health
Did you know that 10-20% of children and adolescents experience mental health problems, and 50% of mental health disorders are evident in children as young as 14 years old? The most common mental health disorders diagnoses are depression and anxiety. What does this have to do with social media?
Well, there’s been a rise in both social media use in youth and mental health problems worldwide in the last ten years. 92% of children and teens are actively using social media! So, people started wondering if there was a connection between the two.
Let’s pause for a moment for a disclaimer: This doesn’t mean social media is the sole cause! There are still plenty of benefits to using social media
Why Is There a Rise in Teen Mental Health Diagnoses?
Over the years, mental health education and awareness have become prominent in society, which has led to our young people feeling free to express their mental health concerns to their parents, guardians, and educators. Social media is giving young people a platform to share their mental health concerns and connect to a wide range of people. Teens are feeling less alone because of social media—just one of the many upsides!
But if youth are benefiting from social media, why is social media consistently blamed for causing mental health problems?
If you are scrolling on social media, you could be neglecting everything else, such as moving your body, sleeping, or nurturing offline connections. All of these activities being buried under checking notifications and multitasking between different social media platforms can be a foreshadower of mental health distress.
These are the presumed risks involved in using social media, but researchers Keles, McCrae, and Grealish did not find a direct correlation between social media and the mental well-being of today's youth.
Parents and guardians may assume posting a selfie is attention-seeking, but it’s a socially acceptable act on social media. Although there are factors to look at when a teen is using social media, the main point is we cannot solely blame it for the rise of mental health problems in today's youth.
How to Use Social Media Productively
What matters is how you use social media and how often you are on social media. Create boundaries for yourself, set reminders to move your body, hang out with friends IRL (in real life!), and take time to enjoy your life offline.
Study Objectives & Methods
A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety, and psychological distress in adolescents
Betul Keles, Niall McCrae & Annmarie Grealish
Published in International Journal of Adolescence Youth in 2019
Social media exposure falls into 4 categories. Social media and psychological distress are a complex relationship. Most of the studies on this subject have some big holes in the sample size and a lack of a comparison group. Some studies found a correlation between social media use and depression and anxiety because of lack of sleep, neglect of relationships, lack of physical activity, and over-investment in multiple social media platforms. On the other side of the coin, many studies did not find that correlation at all. The studies that found positive effects noted that teens were able to connect with like-minded peers online when they could not find those relationships in real life.
