Social Media and Youth Mental Health

Daniel Ha, Grace Huang, Maddie Philhower, and Sonya He

Social media can help youth build community, feel connected to others, and express themselves. Its development over the course of the last two decades has irreversibly transformed the way we socialize as people, serving as a powerful tool of connection, but the amount of time spent online, the content that is seen by children, and the way that algorithms are designed can greatly change the impacts social media has on youth. The prevalence and convenience of smartphones, combined with technological advancements in the realms of AI has made social media more accessible to children, with around 40% of youth under 13 having social media despite age restrictions. Social media can rewire the reward system within children’s brains, with the intermittent reinforcement of notifications further contributing to social media and phone addiction, as well as a decrease in attention span and executive functioning. Exposure to unsafe content can pose threats to children, making it more likely for youth to engage in harmful behaviors and leading to spiraling mental health. The more time is spent on social media, the higher the risks are for adverse mental health impacts on users, which in turn reinforces social media addiction. Technological, economic, and political factors all contribute to the wicked problem of harmful social media usage, which bring forth a plethora of questions regarding the mental health impacts of social media on children, and interventions that should take place.