Social Media makes kids unhappy, study finds

There are peaks and valleys but the trend is clearly visible, especially with young girls. It might be the fact that for teenage girls appearance on social media tends to be much more important than for boys.

Researches also showed that increased social media use in adolescent years also predicts lower life satisfaction at age 19 and later. The impact of social media on kids might be amplified by the fact that the brain of these kids is undergoing structural and developmental changes at this age.

Dr Amy Orben, from the University of Cambridge, who led the study, said, "The link between social media use and mental wellbeing is clearly very complex. Changes within our bodies, such as brain development and puberty, and in our social circumstances appear to make us vulnerable at particular times of our lives.”

And before we deem social media bad and completely cancel it, the matter is much more complicated.

Social media is not bad per se

“It’s not about social media being good or bad, it’s about what young people are up to, why they are using it, and how they feel about it fits into the greater picture of family life,” said
Professor Andrew Przybylski, Director of Research at the Oxford Internet Institute.

With that in mind, parents should focus more on understanding what their children use social media for, how they react to certain things, and maybe encourage them to do things that make them feel good, while trying to keep them away from negative patterns.

We know, it’s easier said than done but at least this is one of the first major studies trying to go deep into the link between social media and how it can affect adolescence. The team shuffled through longitudinal studies (that’s data gathered over a period of time) on 17,400 young people between the ages 10-21.

Adults are affected as well

And while the correlation is alarming especially when we talk about kids, it is present in all age groups. The whole study includes 72,287 UK participants between the age of 10 and 80 years and adults at pretty much every age zone show the same correlation between social media use and life satisfaction.

So, what to do? Maybe it's not a bad idea to use the Digital Wellbeing feature on your phone, set limits to social media use, and try to set in solid and healthy habits such as "no Facebook at dinner", or "Leave the phone away before bedtime." Happiness is something elusive and vague but there are clear scientific patterns which shouldn't be dismissed lightly.