research
Heavy Social Use Correlates With Mental-Health Risk
Annual surveys linked six or more hours a day with higher anxiety and suicidal-ideation reports among emerging adults.
Summary
Annual surveys linked six or more hours a day with higher anxiety and suicidal-ideation reports among emerging adults.
A longitudinal survey of 1,066 emerging adults from 2018 through 2025 found that those reporting at least six daily hours of social-media use had about twice the anxiety and three times the suicidal-ideation reports of those under one hour. The associations do not establish that screen time caused the outcomes, and reverse causation remains possible.
Why it matters
Annual surveys linked six or more hours a day with higher anxiety and suicidal-ideation reports among emerging adults.
Limits and context
- The associations do not establish that screen time caused the outcomes, and reverse causation remains possible.
Key claims
Annual surveys linked six or more hours a day with higher anxiety and suicidal-ideation reports among emerging adults.
Qualification: The associations do not establish that screen time caused the outcomes, and reverse causation remains possible.
Evidence: source-2026-07-25-021
Sources
- UTHealth Houston via EurekAlert: Social media and mental healthUTHealth Houston via EurekAlert · secondary reporting
Corrections
No corrections have been recorded for this story.