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The negative effects of heavy social media use on teenagers are in part offset by close ties between children and parents, according to a survey conducted by US polling company Gallup.
Teens that reported a “strong, loving relationship with their parents” do not appear to have the same level of reported mental health problems as teenagers whose bonds with parents have frayed, according to the survey, which overall showed adolescents glued to social media apps reporting increased anger and sadness as a result.
After surveying more than 6,000 parents and kids, Gallup found teenagers to be spending almost 5 hours a day on average on social media apps and websites.
Girls on average spend longer scrolling and posting than boys, while 17-year-olds pend almost 6 hours a day on the apps, compared to 4 hours and less for younger teens.
“Teens who spend five or more hours per day on social media apps are significantly more likely to report experiencing negative emotions compared with those who spend less than two hours per day,” Gallup found.
Around a quarter of teenagers who cross the 5-hour threshold reported “feeling a lot of sadness” afterwards, compared with 19% of those who spend less than 2 hours on social media.
Parents also appear to be increasingly worried: research published by the American Medical Association on October 26, the day before the Gallup findings were released, showed twice as many reporting “specific concerns about internet addiction than substance addiction.”
A US government survey published in early 2023 showed rising levels of reported “sadness” and suicidal thoughts among the country’s teenage girls, findings that have been linked to excessive social media use.
