Getting Past the Headlines- Using Evidence to Help Families and Adolescents with the Challenges of Social Media

People can agree on many things when it comes to the issues of adolescence, well-being, and social media. First, there is a growing mental health crisis among adolescents that has been worsening for the last decade. Young people are reporting more anxiety and depression, and theirriskofsuicideisincreasing.1 Second,youngpeopleusesocialmediaagreatdeal.Teens spend hours per day on social media and, more generally, on their phones. They are not the only ones doing this; adults also spend hours each day on their phones. Third, one of the significant and most common conflicts within families is arguments about social media and phone use. And last, parents across the country fear that social media will negatively affect their children, and the mainstream media reporting confirms those fears.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the questions parents care most about—in particular whether social media harms adolescents and what to do about it—there is a lack of consensus. The scientific evidence is mixed and suggests that some adolescents have detrimental relationships with social media, while others find it beneficial. A third group finds it to have minimal impact on their life relative to other factors like diet, exercise, sleep, and family dynamics.
While there is not consensus on whether social media causes harm, there are findings in the scientific literature that can help parents productively encourage the development of resilient and capable kids.