May 5, 2025

expert reaction to study of how adolescents with and without mental health conditions use social media

A study published in Nature Human Behaviour looks at social media use in adolescents with and without mental health conditions. 

Prof Rina Dutta, Professor in Psychiatry and Academic Capacity Development, King’s College London said:

“My main concern with this paper is that it gives the impression that the adolescents had been diagnosed beforehand by a healthcare professional, and possibly receiving mental health support: this is not the case.

“While the research itself generally looks to be of good quality, the lack of direct input from young people is disappointing. The study places a particular emphasis on the negative aspects of social media use, but from our own work with Youth Advisors from the charity Young Minds, we found that there are positives too, including giving them a sense of community and in some cases reducing feelings of isolation.

“Digital technology and social media have become an integral part of adolescents’ lives. While I recognise the negative effects that social media can have, society needs to find ways to harness it safely and in a way that enhances mental health.”

Prof Chris Ferguson, Professor of Psychology, Stetson University, said:

“Overall, I find this to be a basic, but overall well-done study by a reputable research group. There are some limits to this study, which the authors themselves acknowledge. The data is self-report, and that has been shown to sometimes relate to false positive correlations in some studies. I found the evidence overall to be rather inconsistent and hard to interpret as making any kind of solid conclusion one way or another.  Most of the effect sizes are very, very small so that even if they are unlikely to be statistical noise, they are probably still too small to base any firm conclusions or policy on.  Overall, I’d say there may be very tiny differences in some behaviours, between kids with or without mental health symptoms and their social media use. But, overall, these are pretty gossamer and much less critical than most of the public has tended to think.”

‘Social media use in adolescents with and without mental health conditions’ by Luisa Fassi et al. was published in Nature Human Behaviour at 16:00 UK time on Monday 5^th May. 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02134-4

Declared interests

Prof Rina Dutta: Principal Investigator of the Social media, Smartphone Use and Self-Harm in Young People (3S-YP) study – independent research funded by the Medical Research Council and Medical Research Foundation (grant number MR/S020365/1).  RD’s research is also supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. RD was also funded by a Clinician Scientist Fellowship from the Health Foundation in partnership with the Academy of Medical Sciences. 

Prof Chris Ferguson: No declarations