Young people who devote substantial time to social media are at greater risk of developing depression, engaging in self-harm, using substances, and performing poorly academically as they grow older, according to an extensive study led by Australian researchers.
The Epoch Times covered the findings, which appeared in JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers conducted a systematic review analyzing 153 studies that collectively included over 350,000 participants between ages 2 and 19, with some studies tracking subjects for as long as two decades.
“The strongest pattern we saw was between social media use and later problematic media use, suggesting early patterns of engagement may become more entrenched and difficult to manage over time,” said Sam Teague, a senior research fellow at James Cook University.
The researchers focused on longitudinal studies that follow participants across time, yielding more robust insights into how behaviors shape outcomes. Teague observed that prior work in this area frequently depended on data gathered at a single moment, complicating efforts to determine whether social media use preceded harmful effects.
She cautioned that the results do not prove causation but reveal persistent correlations between elevated usage and a spectrum of developmental challenges affecting cognition, social and emotional growth, physical health, and motor skills.
Amy Orben, a professor at the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge, pointed to potential confounding factors.
“It may be that children who are already struggling spend more time on social media, rather than social media being the cause of their difficulties,” Orben said. “Similarly, some personality traits or life circumstances might make certain children both more likely to use social media heavily and more likely to experience poorer developmental outcomes.”
Teague proposed one explanation for the observed harms.
“Time spent on digital media [could] displace time that would otherwise be spent on things that are linked to improved mental health, like exercise and connecting with family and peers in real life,” Teague told The Epoch Times.
She also drew a distinction between social media and traditional media formats. “Unique to digital media over traditional media, is its interactive nature, whereby children and teens are encouraged to keep engaging with content through addictive features like auto-play and auto-scroll,” she said.
The study identified adolescents as particularly at risk. “Early adolescence is when identity formation and peer relationships become key developmental systems for young people,” Teague noted, explaining that social media intensifies these challenges through relentless external validation and widespread social comparison.
“Action is needed at the policy and platform level most to make our online environments, that are designed largely for adults, appropriate for children,” she said. “Addictive design features particularly need attention, like auto-play and auto-scroll, as well as exposure to harmful content.”
These findings emerged alongside a groundbreaking social media addiction lawsuit in Los Angeles. A 20-year-old woman claims that major technology firms deliberately crafted addictive platforms that damaged her mental health. Instagram and YouTube remain defendants, while Snapchat and TikTok have reached private settlements.
YouTube’s lawyers disputed the addiction allegations, likening their service to streaming platforms like Netflix where viewers retain full control over their engagement.
On February 18, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the court that his company had long moved away from goals of “increasing time spent on apps” and now prioritizes engaging users through “creating value.”
The accumulating research underscores the urgent necessity for comprehensive Big Tech regulation and strict limits on its influence over the young. Social media offers genuine utility for businesses and allows adults to stay connected with one another, but children and pre-teens must be shielded from these platforms so they can cultivate interpersonal abilities through face-to-face experiences rather than screen-mediated manipulation.
