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
A new study found that when young people reframe their relationship with social media, they reduce its negative impact on their mental health. "It's not just about the total amount of time you use social media," says Amori Yee Mikami, the study’s lead author. "It's also about what you're doing on social media.” (from Tech & Learning).
Mikami, A. Y., Khalis, A., & Karasavva, V. (2025). Logging out or leaning in? Social media strategies for enhancing well-being.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 154(1), 171–189. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001668
The Pew Research report reveals that YouTube, TikTok and Instagram are the most popular platforms among teens, with YouTube being used regularly by 90% of surveyed teens. Instagram and WhatsApp are seeing increased usage, while Facebook and X, the original giants of social media, have experienced significant declines in popularity among this demographic.
Faverio, M., & Sidoti, O. (2024). Teens, social media and technology. Pew Research Center.
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/12/12/teens-social-media-and-technology-2024/
According to a national poll of parents, the top five concerns rated as a big problem for their children were overuse of devices or screen time (67%), social media (66%), internet safety (62%) depression and suicide (57%) and bullying ( 53%). Around half of parents also named stress and anxiety, unhealthy diets and health care costs as big problems.
Mott Poll Report. (2023). Overuse of devices and social media top parent concerns. Author. https://mottpoll.org/reports/overuse-devices-and-social-media-top-parent-concerns.
In a new report, the AFT describes the toll—particularly surrounding youth mental health—certain online technologies have taken on students both in and outside of the classroom as students partake in the “unregulated environment” known as social media. The report serves as a reality check to social media companies that need to make “fundamental changes” to their platforms so that students’ and educators’ lives may be improved as a result. According to the report, social media companies should adhere to the following five principles:
Today’s teens are navigating a digital landscape unlike the one experienced by their predecessors, particularly when it comes to the pervasive presence of social media. In 2022, an in-depth survey asked American teens – and their parents – about their experiences with and views toward social media.
Findings:
Vogels, E., Gelles-Watnick, R., & Massarat, N. (2023). Teens, social media and technology. Pew Reserach Center.
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/
YouTube was the most common app used on a weekly basis by 4th-12th graders and for 9th-12th graders, email was the second most common app, according to a survey issued by The Social Institute, a company that provides curriculum addressing social-emotional learning, social media and technology. The survey, which included responses from nearly 23,000 students in U.S. public and private schools, found school-issued devices, TVs and smartphones are the most popular devices used by students on a weekly basis.
23 insights for 2023 on how students navigate well-being, social media and tech. Social Institute. https://thesocialinstitute.com/insight/report-23-insights-for-2023-on-how-students-navigate-well-being-social-media-and-tech/.
U.S. schools and districts routinely share student photos and names on public school social media accounts, new research reveals. These photos and names can potentially be used for a variety of harmful purposes including stalking by individuals and data mining by private companies and foreign governments.
Rosenberg, J., et al. (2022). Posts about students on Facebook: A data ethics perspective. Educational Researcher. https://www.doi.org/10.3102/0013189X221120538.
https://www.aera.net/Newsroom/Posts-About-Students-on-Facebook-A-Data-Ethics-Perspective
"This research aims at providing an overview of the research feld of digital literacy into learning and education. Using text mining, it reviews 1037 research articles published on the topic between 2000 and 2020. This review reveals that there is a plurality of terms associated with digital literacy. Moreover, our research identifes six key factors that defne the literature, which are information literacy, developing digital literacy, digital learning, ICT, social media, and twenty-frst century digital skills. These factors can be grouped into three main streams, which are 1) digital literacy, 2) digital learning and 3) twenty-frst century digital skills. These three streams are supported by informational and technological foundations. These results provide research avenues and ofer a framework for digital literacy in education."
Audrin, C., Audrin, B. Key factors in digital literacy in learning and education: a systematic literature review using text mining. Educ Inf Technol (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10832-5
A study surveyed parents in 2020 and 2021 about their children’s use of technology and social media during the pandemic. The study focused on youth younger than 12. Between 2020 and 2021 children used digital devices and social media more, and parents increasingly expressed worry about the amount of time their child was spending on those devices. Parents became more aware of their children's online use, and some changed their monitoring habits: either being more restrictive or more lenient.
McClain, C. (2022). How parents' views of their kids' screen time, social media use changed during COVID-19. Pew Research Center.
https://pewrsr.ch/3Koo0qU
A cross-sectional study in the United Kingdom has revealed an association between social media use and lower life satisfaction among children and adolescents aged 10-21 years. "Cross-sectional relationship between self-reported estimates of social media use and life satisfaction ratings is most negative in younger adolescents. Furthermore, sex differences in this relationship are only present during this time. Longitudinal analyses of 17,409 participants (10–21 years old) suggest distinct developmental windows of sensitivity to social media in adolescence, when higher estimated social media use predicts a decrease in life satisfaction ratings one year later (and vice-versa: lower estimated social media use predicts an increase in life satisfaction ratings). These windows occur at different ages for males (14–15 and 19 years old) and females (11–13 and 19 years old). Decreases in life satisfaction ratings also predicted subsequent increases in estimated social media use, however, these were not associated with age or sex." (Abstract).
Orben, A., Przybylski, A.K., Blakemore, SJ. et al. Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media. Nat Commun 13, 1649 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29296-3
The C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health found that 32% of children ages 7 to 9 and 49% of children ages 10 to 12 use social media apps. The findings, based on a survey of 1,030 parents, also showed that 35% of parents said their child was taught about the safe use of social media apps in school, and that these parents were more likely to report that their child uses these apps.
National Poll: 1/3 of children ages 7-9 use social media apps. (2018). https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/931448.
New research examines activities, motives, and barriers associated with social media learning. Results of an online questionnaire recorded perspectives on personalized learning networks. Results were categorized by media type (self-published content, curated content, microblogs, discussion forums, and social networks) and by user role (Passerby, Lurker, Networker, Content Creator, and Community Leader).
Cates, M. (2021). Social Media to Survive and Thrive: School Librarians Describe Online Professional Learning. School Library Research.
http://www.ala.org/aasl/slr
