Social Media Use Linked to Depression, Lower Grades in Children

TOPLINE:

Digital media use in children and adolescents was associated with poorer developmental outcomes, with social media showing the most consistent adverse links to depression, behavioral problems, and substance use. Video gaming was linked to aggression and externalizing behaviors.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies examining the associations between the use of digital media and health and developmental outcomes in individuals from infancy to 18 years of age.

• They included 153 studies representing 115 cohorts, with participants aged 2-19 years (mean age, 12.81 years; 53.8% girls) and a mean follow-up duration of 2.48 years.

• Exposure categories were balanced across social media, video games, and other forms of media, covering digital devices, messaging and communication platforms, digital learning, health and fitness applications, and general internet use.

• Outcomes comprised specific developmental subdomains, grouped into 16 social-emotional, three cognitive, and seven physical and motor subdomains, based on established child development frameworks.

• Meta-regressions examined moderators, including age at exposure (infancy, early childhood, preschool age, school age, early adolescence, and late adolescence), sex, year of first exposure (pre-2012 vs post-2012), and other variables.

TAKEAWAY:

• Social media use was associated with depression (correlation coefficient [r], 0.09; 95% CI, 0.06-0.12), externalizing behaviors (r, 0.13; 95% CI, 0.07-0.19), internalizing behaviors (r, 0.14; 95% CI, 0.03-0.25), self-harm thoughts and behaviors (r, 0.11; 95% CI, 0.01-0.27), and problematic internet use (r, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.13-0.29), reflecting broader socioemotional difficulties.

• In the cognitive domain, social media use was linked to lower academic achievement (r, -0.07; 95% CI, -0.11 to -0.02; I², 34%), and in the physical domain, it was linked to substance use (r, 0.14; 95% CI, 0.08-0.19; I², 96%).

• Video gaming was associated with aggression (r, 0.16; 95% CI, 0.09-0.23) and externalizing behaviors (r, 0.17; 95% CI, 0.07-0.26), with high heterogeneity noted; however, it was also associated with better attention and executive functioning (r, 0.10; 95% CI, 0.03-0.16; I², 52%).

• Social media’s effect on depression was weaker in children aged 6-11 years than in early adolescents aged 12-15 years. Moreover, social media showed a stronger link to substance use after vs before 2012.

IN PRACTICE:

“Promoting healthier digital engagement will require coordinated efforts across ecological levels, including family practices (eg, co-viewing media), school-based digital literacy, regulatory oversight of industry, and attention to cultural values and the evolving platforms,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Samantha Teague, PhD, of the Department of Psychology, College of Healthcare Sciences at the James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. It was published online on March 9, 2026, in JAMA Pediatrics.

LIMITATIONS:

Causality could not be determined. The follow-up period was usually around 1 year, which limited understanding of long-term effects. Most studies focused mainly on social media and video gaming, with social-emotional outcomes being overrepresented compared with cognitive, physical, or motor domains. Early childhood exposures, trajectories into adulthood, and objective measures of exposure were not well covered.

DISCLOSURES:

One author disclosed support from the Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Grant during the conduct of the study, and another author reported receiving an Investigator Grant from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and a Medical Research Future Fund grant.

Note: This article originally appeared on Medscape.