Effects of Social Media on Children’s Mental Health: What a Large New Study Reveals

by Craig Perryman | 30 Mar 2026

At a glance

Social media linked to poorer outcomes: A large review of 153 longitudinal studies found that higher social media use in children and teens is consistently associated with increased depression, anxiety, behavioural problems, and substance use.
Video games show mixed effects: Gaming was linked to more aggression and rule-breaking behaviours, but also showed a small positive association with executive functioning skills like attention and self-control.
Consistent patterns across large studies: Analysing data from about 360,000 young people, researchers found small but consistent links between heavier digital media use and poorer developmental outcomes, highlighting the need for broader policy and platform changes to improve online safety for children.

A large review published in JAMA Pediatrics suggests that heavier use of digital media, particularly social media, is consistently associated with poorer developmental outcomes in children and teenagers. While video games may offer a small boost to certain mental skills, the overall pattern in the data links greater digital media use with higher levels of depression, behavioural problems, and substance use.

Digital media now plays a major role in the daily lives of children and adolescents, with usage increasing steadily from early childhood through the teenage years. Much of the previous debate about screen time has relied on cross-sectional studies, which capture behaviour at a single moment and cannot determine whether digital media use causes problems or simply occurs alongside them. To address this issue, the new research focused exclusively on longitudinal studies, which follow the same individuals over time.

“The debate around children’s digital media use has been fierce, but most of the evidence fuelling it comes from studies that only capture a single snapshot in time — they can’t tell us whether screen time is actually causing problems, or just associated with them. We wanted to change that,”

said study author Sam Teague, a senior research fellow at James Cook University and head of the JCU Digital Wellbeing Group.

The researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 153 longitudinal studies published between 2000 and 2024. Together, these studies represented about 360,000 children and adolescents aged two to 19 from around the world. The team analysed how different forms of digital media use, including social media, video games, and other online activities such as messaging or general internet use, were linked to 26 aspects of development across social-emotional, cognitive, physical, and motor domains.

Across the studies, social media use was consistently associated with a range of social-emotional difficulties. Higher engagement was linked with greater levels of depression, anxiety, behavioural problems, self-injurious thoughts, and problematic internet use. It was also connected to lower academic achievement, weaker positive development, and poorer self-perception. In terms of physical health, higher social media use was associated with increased substance use, including alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis.

Video game use showed a more mixed pattern. Gaming was linked to greater aggression and externalising behaviours such as hostility or rule-breaking. At the same time, the analysis identified a small positive association between video game use and executive functioning, a set of mental skills that includes working memory, attention, and self-control.

“The clearest finding is that digital media use — and social media in particular — is consistently linked to poorer outcomes for children and young people,” Teague told PsyPost.

“Social media stood out: it was associated with worse outcomes across every domain we looked at, from mental health and social development through to physical health. The one bright spot was video gaming, which showed a small link to better executive functioning — things like attention and mental organization.”

Further analysis showed that some effects varied by age and time period. The link between social media use and depression was stronger in early adolescence than in younger children. Studies conducted after 2012, when smartphones became widespread, also showed stronger connections between social media use and substance use.

Although the negative associations identified in the review were generally small to moderate, the researchers note that their consistency across a large number of studies makes them meaningful.

“The key word is consistent: across more than 100 studies involving around 360,000 children worldwide, the pattern kept showing up,” Teague told PsyPost.

“This isn’t a problem that individual families can solve on their own by simply setting better rules around screen time. The scale of the evidence points to a need for action from policymakers and technology companies to make online environments genuinely safer for children.”

The researchers emphasise that their analysis cannot prove that digital media use directly causes these outcomes. Although longitudinal studies provide stronger evidence than cross-sectional research, other factors could still explain the relationships observed.

“The most important one is that we can’t prove causation,” Teague noted. “Longitudinal studies give us stronger grounds than a single snapshot — we’re looking at media use before outcomes emerge — but other explanations remain possible. For instance, children already struggling with their mental health may engage with social media differently.”

Looking ahead, the researchers are interested in how children’s media habits may change as new regulations emerge, particularly as governments introduce restrictions on youth access to social media. They also hope to better understand how early screen habits develop and how families can support healthier digital behaviour from childhood.