Politicians are claiming social media apps are causing irreparable harm to our youngsters. The science, however, says otherwise
by PROF ANDREW PRZYBYLSKI Andrew is Professor of Human Behaviour and Technology at the Oxford Internet Institute. He studies how adults and children interact with online environments.
REVIEW
What’s the most effective way to protect children’s mental health? The answer that’s been echoed by waves of politicians across the world over the last two decades is to ban them from social media. Such calls have, understandably, seen a recent resurgence in the UK. They follow the murder of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey and the revelation that her teenage killers had frequently shared violent videos on social media apps.
As Conservative MP Miriam Cates recently argued, such a crime illustrated how such apps pose a ‘serious threat’ to child safety and welfare.
At first, it feels easy to agree with Cates. Speaking as a parent, we all want our children to be safe, and years of newspaper headlines have suggested that social media is the cause of a children’s mental health crisis. The thing is, the best scientific evidence we have so far simply doesn’t support this narrative.
IS THERE PROOF IT HARMS CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH?
Social media has been with us for some time and most users engage with it in ways that bring many positives. Young people today use it to connect to others or pursue their hobbies. And when tragedies happen – like a murder – they can use social media to show support for those affected.
The best evidence we have today suggests it’s unlikely to impact their life satisfaction. In fact, global mental health survey data gathered in 168 countries across 18 years suggests there’s no causal relationship between the introduction of the internet and the wellbeing of young people. These data suggest that 99.6 per cent of a child’s wellbeing has nothing to do with how much time they spend on a device.
It’s clear that if you’re aged between 10 and 20, your social media use will increase if your life satisfaction decreases. But the opposite isn’t necessarily true – in most groups, the more time a child spends on social media doesn’t mean their life satisfaction will decrease. Fundamentally, there is very limited solid evidence that demonstrates social media causes mental health issues in children. And without establishing a causal link, a ban seems
