image: ©Arsenii Palivoda | iStock

The research from Imperial College London found that children are significantly more likely to experience mental health symptoms depending on their social media usage.

The SCAMP study, examining over 2300 children across London schools, found that those in Year 7 (aged 11-12) who spent more than three hours per day on social media had a higher likelihood of developing depression and anxiety by Years 9 and 10 (aged 13-15). This risk was especially pronounced for girls.

“The relationship we see is complex…but we see that children who use social media above a certain level when they are in Year 7 are more likely to develop mental health problems when they reach Years 9 and 10, and we believe this is largely due to sustained disruptions to sleep,” added Dr Chen Shen, School of Public Health at Imperial College London.

The research identifies sleep disruption—caused by evening social media use—as the primary pathway linking high social media use to subsequent mental health effects.

The team found that when they compared limited social media use – around 30 minutes per day – with more than three hours of social media use per day, there were greater severity levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms and clinically significant symptoms at follow-up.

Girls reported more severe mental health symptoms than boys, indicating a stronger association for females.

Furthermore, getting too little sleep, especially on school nights, and going to bed later helped explain the link between social media use and depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Dr Chen Shen, from the School of Public Health at Imperial and first author of the study, said: “The relationship we see is complex, so it’s not as straightforward as saying that social media use directly causes poor mental health in children, like the well-established direct link between smoking and lung cancer, for example. But we see that children who use social media above a certain level when they are in Year 7 are more likely to develop mental health problems when they reach Years 9 and 10, and we believe this is largely due to sustained disruptions to sleep.

“We know social media platforms have changed enormously over the last decade and are likely to change as much, if not more, in the next 5-10 years. As the platforms, usage and content evolve, we need continued research to understand how social media use affects children’s mental health in today’s digital environment.”

Professor Mireille Toledano, Mohn Chair in Child Health at Imperial’s School of Public Health, and Principal Investigator of SCAMP, said: “Our analysis shows a clear trend in terms of the amount of time spent on social media and mental health outcomes. Children who use social media apps for longer and later into the evening may be offsetting the sleep they need to function healthily. We think this is the key reason we’re seeing a lasting impact on their mental health down the line.

“There seems to be growing support for a total ban on social media use for under-16s, and for the current non-statutory guidance of no phones in schools to become a legal ban. But at the moment, we don’t actually have the evidence to support these bans or claims that social media or mobile phone usage are harmful in themselves. The picture is complex and multi-factorial, and we need to better tease out what is driving the associations we see. The SCAMP study, with its rich dataset on physical and mental health, cognitive function, physical activity, sleep, diet, genetics, and puberty biomarkers, is facilitating just this. For example, our study provides evidence that the link between social media use and depression and anxiety is largely driven by offsetting healthy behaviours – like getting enough sleep.”