A new survey of 11- to 13-year-olds looks at how cellphones and social media affect kids’ mental health—and finds that certain behaviors are more associated with adverse outcomes. While 78% of respondents said they have their own smartphone, and 99% said they often use at least one kind of electronic device, owning or using these devices isn't the problem: pub Children who post publicly posting and sharing online even occasionally are more likely than their peers to report feeling depressed and anxious and get too little sleep. Professor Sharon Hoover stated, “The takeaways for schools are that, yes, the use of phones, including social media use, impacts kids’ mental health and that schools really do have a role to play in terms of digital literacy and ensuring kids are set up with proper knowledge and guardrails around these things.” Digital literacy is to safer phone and social media use.
Martin, J. D., Song, S. W., Rote, W. R., Bakour, C., Rance, L. T., Scacco, J. M., & Marcus, S. (2025). The Life in Media Survey: A baseline study of digital media use and well-being among 11- to 13-year-olds. Researchers at the University in South Florida in collaboration with The Harris Poll. Retrieved from lifeinmediasurvey.org
