A new study published in the World Happiness Report Thursday reveals that teenagers spending excessive time on social media platforms experience decreased mental wellbeing, with teenage girls facing the most significant impact.
The research comes as nations worldwide consider restricting children’s access to social platforms, following Australia’s groundbreaking decision in December to prohibit social media use for anyone under 16 years old.
The annual study analyzed information from Gallup polling data and additional research, with analysis conducted by an international research team headed by Oxford University in England.
While the study stopped short of proving a direct causal relationship, researchers combined multiple data sources including information from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment to reach their conclusions about social media’s negative effects on youth happiness.
“The message coming through loud and clear is that we should try to put the social back into social media,” Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford Jan-Emmanuel de Neve, one of the editors of the World Happiness Report, told Reuters.
De Neve explained that content driven by algorithms, consumed passively, and dominated by influencers creates more harmful effects than platforms designed to foster genuine social connections between users.
The research specifically found that 15-year-old girls spending more than five hours daily on social platforms reported decreased life satisfaction when compared to peers who use these services less frequently, though researchers acknowledged the relationship between social media and mental health remains complicated.
Data from Gallup’s international polling revealed that young people under 25 in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have seen their life satisfaction scores plummet “dramatically” – dropping nearly a full point on a 10-point measurement scale during the past ten years.
Meanwhile, young people in other regions around the globe reported increased life satisfaction during this same timeframe.
Julie Ray, Gallup’s managing editor, suggested the disparity between English-speaking nations and other countries likely stems from broader societal factors affecting youth.
“Social support is one of the strongest predictors of wellbeing, and previous research shows that in some countries younger people report feeling less supported, which may help explain the pattern,” she told Reuters by email.
