Researchers at University College London have found that social media is less likely to cause mental health problems in adolescents. Research published Journal of Medical Internet Research.
The World Health Organization reports that one in seven adolescents (ages 10-19) suffers from a mental disorder, and half of all mental illnesses begin at age 14. The number of young people with mental disorders has increased in the last 20 years, and social media is often cited as one of the reasons for this.
Researchers rated the number of hours spent on social media aged 12-13 on a five-point scale from “never” to “seven hours or more.” They then looked at data on children’s self-esteem and mental health. In total, about three thousand children participated in the study. They were followed for several years.
The authors found no evidence that spending more time on social media is associated with worse mental health among UK youth. However, there may be a link between social media and its negative impact on teens’ self-esteem.
“Our findings give some confidence that social media may not be as harmful to youth mental health as previously thought. However, we must also understand that social media can have both positive and negative effects on youth mental health and that there are still many unanswered questions,” he said.