Impacts of Social Media on Adolescent Mental Health

Question: What does social media do to kids’ mental health? 

Answer: Thank you for this important question! The relationship between social media and mental health is complex and depends on many factors.  

Potential Benefits of Social Media Use 

In this previous portal response, we discussed the potential benefits associated with social media use, which include: 

• social connection & social support, 
• identity, self-expression, self-affirmation, and community support, 
• interest-driven exploration and information-seeking, and 
• empowerment, civic engagement, and social activism. 

All of these benefits may enhance mental health.  

Social Media Experiences that May Pose Risks to Mental Health 

In other previous responses, we shared specific social media experiences that may pose risks to youth mental health, including: 

• impacts of social media on sleep quality,  
• exposure to dangerous content including eating disorder content, 
• how to take a balanced approach to staying up-to-date with news and current events on social media, and 
• impacts of parental social media use.  

Looking at the Impacts 

Mixed Findings 

The literature about social media use and mental health variables is mixed. Some studies show small but significant associations between social media and mental health variables, and others show no association. This may be partly because there are many different measures of social media use and many different measures of mental health outcomes.  

Bidirectional Relationships 

Problematic social media use specifically is associated with depression and anxiety symptoms among children and adolescents ages 5-18. Longitudinal studies suggest that the relationship between depression symptoms and social media use may be bidirectional, with depression associated with later problematic social media use and problematic social media use associated with later depression. This review provides more information about the complexity of the relationship between social media and adolescent mental health and the state of the research literature.  

Context Challenges 

Another reason this topic is complex is that there are many different ways that adolescents use social media, such as scrolling short-form video content, chatting with friends and family, looking up news or health information, or exploring a hobby.  

One systematic review and meta-analysis found that short-form video use, such as scrolling on TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or Instagram Reels, has a small but significant association with poor mental health outcomes such as anxiety and depression symptoms.  

That said, it’s important to note that individual experiences with any social media activity vary widely and depend on multiple factors, including the type of content they are watching and whether social media is crowding out another important activity like homework or sleep.  

What You Can Do 

Here are some tips and resources for educators who are concerned about adolescent mental health and social media: 

• Consider using lessons from the Healthy Habits section of Common Sense Education’s Digital Citizenship Curriculum, which includes lessons for grades 9-12 about how to maximize the benefits of social media use while avoiding harms 
• Review the 5 Cs of Media Use, which is a framework that can be used to understand healthy and balanced media use. The 5 Cs are: Child, Content, Calm, Crowding Out, and Communication. Some Cs that are especially relevant to this question include: 
  • Content: Advise teens to adjust the content settings within their apps and use features like “not interested” to curate their algorithm and avoid potentially harmful content. The Glossary of Digital Media Platforms and Quick Tips for Managing Your Feed can help with this 
  • Crowding Out: Encourage teens to reflect on whether social media use is crowding out other important activities like sleep, homework, exercise, or engaging in quality time with friends or family. This previous response provides information on how to build a healthy sleep routine that protects sleep duration and sleep quality 
• Direct teens towards Navigating Social Media: A Teen Wellness Toolkit, which is a section of the website from the AAP Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health that is specifically designed for teens. Resources in this toolkit include a research-based infographic breaking down the good and bad of social media and a Calm Toolbox for managing stress with digital and non-digital tools. They can also check out this previous portal response that covers how adolescents can assess whether their own social media use might be having negative impacts on their mental health. 

References 

• Ahmed, O., Walsh, E. I., Dawel, A., Alateeq, K., Oyarce, D. A. E., & Cherbuin, N. (2024). Social media use, mental health and sleep: A systematic review with meta-analyses. Journal of Affective Disorders, 367, 701-712.   
• Moreno, M. A., & Salerno, A. (2026). Social Media and Adolescent Mental Health: A Practical Approach. Pediatrics in Review, 47(3), 129-138.   
• Nguyen, L., Walters, J., Paul, S., Monreal Ijurco, S., Rainey, G. E., Parekh, N., ... & Darrah, M. (2025). Feeds, feelings, and focus: A systematic review and meta-analysis examining the cognitive and mental health correlates of short-form video use. Psychological bulletin, 151(9), 1125.   
• Saleem, N., Young, P., & Yousuf, S. (2024). Exploring the relationship between social media use and symptoms of depression and anxiety among children and adolescents: A systematic narrative review. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 27(11), 771-797.