Social media and teenagers: what the evidence says

By Eoin Whelan, Professor in Business Analytics and Society, University of Galway

Is the time teenagers spend on social media really damaging their wellbeing and mental health? Around the globe, youth mental health problems are on the rise. This has coincided with an ever increasing amount of time teenagers spend on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, X and Snapchat.

In the public discourse at least, this correlation has been interpreted to mean one thing: social media damages the mental health of our young people. But what does the evidence actually say?

Unfortunately, the scientific community has been unable to provide a definitive answer. Many studies…

Read complete article

~	Could women’s anger turn Makerfield voters against Reform UK?

~	How to write a compelling climate haiku

~	Australia has already banned social media for under 16s – here’s what the UK can learn from the experience

~	US-Iran war: what the ‘peace deal’ really means

~	Cooling ingredients in vapes might cause irregular heartbeats

~	UK: Social media ban for under 16s ‘right diagnosis, wrong prescription’

~	UK: Terrorist sentence for Palestine Action marks ‘dangerous’ move against right to protest

~	Ghana’s queer movement is losing a fight it could be ‘winning’

~	A peace deal may bring an end to the Iran war, but what did the US and Israel truly achieve?

~	View from The Hill: has political life become absurdly frenetic?