We know that social media can be harmful to young people. In her own research, Meta found that Instagram makes the image of the body worse for one of every three teenage girls, and Snapchat has been sued several times to not do enough to alleviate the electronic bullying. Even the former American surgeon issued consultative The risk of using social media for young people. but New report It explains how social media can sometimes have positive effects on adolescents, despite their damages.
According to a study by the Pew Research Center, 74 % of adolescents from the United States said social media makes them feel more connected to their friends, as 63 % said that online platforms give them a place to express their creativity.
While the United States government is trying to issue legislation aimed at the experience of adolescents online, this data shows how some teenagers find social media have a positive impact.
The potential explanation for these data may be that adolescents feel free to express themselves online, which may be at school or at home.
One of the studies conducted by the Trefor Project showed that 53 % of young people of LGBTQ felt safe and understood on Tiktok, followed by Discord (43 %) and Instagram (41 %). Online societies contribute to positive mental health results. The same respondents were 20 % less likely to try to commit suicide in the previous year if they were reported to feel safe in an online space.
In the Pew study, 34 % of adolescents reported that they sometimes get information about mental health on social media, with 63 % they say it is an important way they find such information.
These statistics do not tell us whether the information that adolescents find about mental health is accurate or useful, but they are useful data at a time when only 52 % of adolescents said they feel very comfortable or talking to their parents about their mental health, for every Bio.
This does not mean that social media comes without its faults, as the Pew study documents these restaurants. However, adolescents are more interested in the effect of negative social media on their peers more than themselves. While 48 % of adolescents said social media had a negative impact on people who suffer from their age, only 14 % believe that social media has a negative impact on them personally.
Then again, these self -reported statistics do not always tell the entire story. Although teenagers say social media is more likely to help their friendships than harm them, social media hurts their sleep (45 %) and productivity (40 %).
