How does social media affect a teens mental health, and are they aware of it? Parents often see the negative impact social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, and more have on their kids. As much fun as social media provides for adolescents, at what cost does it come?
Montare Outpatient provides complex treatment for people with a variety of mental health disorders. This includes ones that were jump-started or exacerbated by excessive social media usage. This includes anxiety and depression that impact so many young people today. With our help, people can learn to use social media more wisely and improve their mental health at one of our outpatient programs.
How Does Social Media Affect a Teen’s Mental Health?
How does social media affect a teenager’s mental health and which accounts are the most popular? Teenagers often feel that their time on social media is all positive. They avoid schoolwork and stay up late checking out the latest posts on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, and WhatsApp.
Too often, a teenager who uses social media to feel less alone ends up feeling the opposite way. They feel more isolated and like their lives cannot live up to the standards of beauty and exciting lives they watch on social media accounts. When the majority of their social lives are contained in a small device, they are missing out on getting out of the house, fresh air, dating, and having fun with friends.
Positive Effects of Social Media on Teens
Participating in social media can have wonderful benefits for teenagers. Most adolescents (and many adults) find the majority of their news by reading it online. This can help them stay informed about local, regional, national, and international news.
Social media can also provide information and support that helps improve a person’s mental health. Many accounts that attract a young audience provide valuable information about mental health disorders. This may be the first indication to teens that something might be wrong and should be explored. It also provides resources such as therapists, support groups, hotlines, and ways for kids to talk to their parents.
Social media can also help members of the LGBTQ+ community by providing a safe place to read and post. When done a healthy amount of time, the use of social media can provide stress-relieving entertainment.
Negative Effects of Social Media on Teens
Frequent usage of social media can cause teenagers to develop an unrealistic view of themselves and others. It is much easier to “fake” a person’s life by posting heavily filtered photos and altered backgrounds to fool people into believing the lives of those who do that are perfect. Teenagers who cannot see through the lies often feel like their lives and physical looks are boring and ugly by comparison. This can lead to depression and anxiety or exacerbate these disorders if the kids already have them.
Frequent social media can change parts of the human brain and how the individual learns and feels. It can also affect how they behave socially, their expectations, and impulse control. Teens also tend to withdraw from others when participating in social media, which leads to frequent isolation.
How Long Does the Average Teenager Spend on Social Media?
A Gallup survey showed that 51% of teenagers in the U.S. spend an average of 4.8 hours per day on social media apps. The average time spent viewing and participating in social media sites is the highest for 17-year-olds, who spend as much as 5.8 hours per day on them.
Adolescents aged 13 years old spent the shortest amount of time, which is still quite extensive at 4.1 hours per day. Girls spend an average of 5.3 hours per day on social media, overtaking the average of 4.4 hours spent daily by boys.
The daily amount of time spent on social media breaks down as follows:
YouTube: 1.9 hours
TikTok: 1.5 hours
Instagram: 0.9 hours
Facebook: 0.3 hours
X: 0.2 hours
WhatsApp: 0.1 hours
Research showing how social media can affect a teenager’s mental health changes over time because new platforms come along and old ones become less popular.
Should Parents Limit Their Teenager’s Use of Social Media?
When parents try to get their teenagers to reduce the time they spend on social media or control the sites they visit, they are typically met with blowback. Still, parents can encourage their children to follow some basic rules to help them scale back on their time on social media and its potential damage. These include:
- Set a limit to the amount of time spent on social media and other habits on smartphones.
- Turn off notifications to remove the temptation of grabbing their phone every time a ding indicates a new post or response.
- Review the social media platforms they follow and ask if they have outgrown some of them or find them too negative.
- Take a break from being on social media at regular intervals. For example, 30 minutes on and 30 minutes off.
- The parents can reduce their time online in solidarity with their teens. Role modeling the behavior can help kids feel more comfortable following suit.
Contact Our Montare Outpatient Treatment Center in Los Angeles, CA
Are you worried about your child because they show signs of a mental illness and just aren’t themselves? Exploring the way that social media affects a teen’s mental health can provide answers as to why your child may feel anxiety, depression, and other negative emotions. At Montare Outpatient, we help people overcome mental health disorders and lead happier lives. We provide excellent and comprehensive care through different types of outpatient programs. We also offer access to prescription medications that help minimize the symptoms of mental illness.
Contact us today, and let’s talk about how we can help you or someone you love improve their self-esteem and value themselves for the wonderful individuals they are.
Published: 3/18/2025
