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Risks and Benefits of Social Media on Adolescent Health
Suzanna E Sellars1, Rashi Kabra1
1Department of Pediatrics, Craig Dalsimer Division of Adolescent Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Pediatric Annals
|June 10, 2026
Summary
Social media use impacts adolescent identity and relationships. This review highlights risks like sleep issues and cyberbullying, but also benefits like online support, advocating for harm-reduction strategies in clinical practice.
Area of Science:
- Adolescent health
- Digital media studies
- Clinical psychology
Background:
- Adolescents increasingly use social media for identity formation and relationships.
- Clinical frameworks have not kept pace with rapid technological advancements in digital platforms.
- Understanding the complex interplay between social media and adolescent well-being is critical.
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize evidence on how social media platform design, usage patterns, and individual differences affect adolescent benefits and harms.
- To propose a clinical workflow for addressing social media's impact on adolescent health.
- To advocate for harm-reduction strategies over simple screen time limits.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of recent evidence on social media's influence on adolescent mental health and social development.
- Analysis of factors contributing to problematic social media use and its associated negative outcomes.
- Exploration of the positive aspects of online communities for adolescent support and coping.
Main Results:
- Problematic social media use is linked to sleep disturbances, mood and attention disorders, body image issues, cyberbullying, and exposure to self-harm content.
- Female adolescents and marginalized youth experience disproportionately higher burdens from negative social media impacts.
- Online communities can provide valuable connection, coping mechanisms, and avenues for help-seeking, especially for isolated youth.
Conclusions:
- A structured, developmentally informed clinical workflow involving screening, validated tools, and family media planning is proposed.
- Function-focused, harm-reduction approaches are recommended to leverage digital platforms for adolescent health.
- Shifting focus from total screen time to the function and impact of social media use is essential for effective clinical intervention.
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