New study shows social media use predicted future depression in tweens

As adolescents experience both declining mental health and rising exposure to social media, parents and researchers alike have tried to better understand the link between the two: Does social media fuel mental health struggles? Or are struggling kids more likely to turn to social media?

A new study indicates a possible answer. When researchers at the University of California at San Francisco examined social media use and depressive symptoms among tweens over a three-year period, they found that an increase in social media use predicted a future rise in symptoms of depression - but not the other way around.

The study, published in May in the journal JAMA Network Open, followed nearly 12,000 preteens over three years starting at age 9 to 10. The lead author of the study, Jason Nagata, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California at San Francisco, spoke to The Washington Post about his team’s findings and observations.

Social media use jumped during the tween years, and depression symptoms followed

Daily social media use among study participants surged tenfold over those years, from about 7 minutes per day at age 9, to 74 minutes per day by age 13. During that same time frame, reported depression symptoms jumped 35 per cent.

“Social media does seem to be a risk factor for future depression, or worsening depressive symptoms,” Professor Nagata says. “But kids who were already depressed didn’t necessarily report using social media more in subsequent years.” The emergence of this pattern, he says, is “a new finding.”

The data was drawn from the national Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, which includes a racially and economically diverse sample of children in the largest long-term study of brain development and child health ever conducted in the US, Professor Nagata says: “One of the advantages of this study, over prior studies, is that it follows these same kids, every year.”

Other factors - such as genetics or societal influences, like the pandemic - can also play a role in determining whether a child might develop depression, Professor Nagata says. But while those are largely outside individual control, he notes, identifying social media as a factor is significant because “to some extent, people can make changes in their daily lives” to reduce that risk.

Efforts to restrict access to social media don’t seem to be working

“Technically, the minimum age requirement for most social media platforms is 13 years old,” Professor Nagata says - yet at the start of their study, 20 percent of 9- and 10-year-olds had social media accounts, and by age 11 or 12, two-thirds of them did. On average, those children had accounts on three platforms, Professor Nagata says; TikTok was the most common, followed by Instagram and Snapchat.

This is something policymakers should be aware of, he says. “To me, this study shows that age verification does not work currently. Even though we have rules and laws, it does seem like most kids are tech savvy enough that they can get around them.”

Cyberbullying is a possible driver of depressive symptoms

Using data from the same cohort of adolescents, Professor Nagata and his colleagues also conducted a separate study - published in the Lancet Regional Health - Americas journal - that helps explain why social media might be predictive of depression symptoms. That study found that children age 11 to 12 who experienced cyberbullying were more than twice as likely to report experiencing suicidal ideation or a suicide attempt within the following year; they were also more than twice as likely to experiment with substance use, including marijuana, alcohol and tobacco, Professor Nagata says.

Cyberbullying, he says, is a singular torment for tweens. “In general, with school-based bullying, you know who the perpetrator is, and they’re doing it to your face, and they’re limited to bullying activities when you’re physically in the presence of each other,” he says. But with cyberbullying, “the bullying can be constant, in your bedroom, overnight. And sometimes the bullies are anonymous. It can be adults, it can be from a fake account, it can be from somebody across the world.”

Phone use is displacing other crucial activities, like sleep

Another way that social media use might cause or intensify depressive symptoms is simply through “displacement,” Professor Nagata says: “We only have 24 hours in the day, and the more time that kids are spending on screens and on social media, even if content is fine and they’re not being bullied - that’s still time that they’re not spending doing other things that could be good for their health, like sleep or physical activity.”

Sleep, in particular, is critical for mental health, physical health and brain development, he says, which is why the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids put phones away an hour before bedtime. “But we found that that window was the most active time of use for most of these preteens,” he says. “Right before bed, they’re messaging friends from their bedroom.”

Their research found that 63 percent of those teens reported that they had a phone or electronic device in their bedroom overnight, he says, and 17 percent said they had been awakened by notifications within the past week. “The best thing is to have the phone outside the room,” he says.

Parents need a plan - which includes evaluating their own screen use

For parents, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends creating a family media plan for the household - and parents will need to follow those agreed-upon guidelines, too, Professor Nagata notes: “One of the biggest predictors of preteen screen use is adult screen use.”

As parents choose their battles, he adds, he recommends focusing on limits around bedtime and mealtimes. Research has also shown that when people are distracted by screens while eating, “they tend to overeat, even when they’re not hungry,” he says; and they also miss out on the opportunity to have conversation and connection with their family. “To the extent possible that we can make sure that media use isn’t affecting (a child’s) sleep, that it isn’t replacing in-person activities or physical activities - those are ways that you can really try to mitigate the harms.”

And now is as good a time as any to create a new family plan: “Depending on what kids are doing over the summer, there could be big changes in media use ahead,” he says. “So this is a good time for parents to be having these discussions.”

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