Most US teens say TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat aren't hurting (or helping) their mental health

Source: Engadget

Key Findings

• Most U.S. teens say Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat are neither helping nor hurting their mental health.
• A smaller but notable share report negative effects on sleep and productivity, especially with TikTok.

Impact on Mental Health, Sleep, and Productivity

• Mental health:
  • 9 % of Snapchat and TikTok users, and 11 % of Instagram users, said the platforms hurt their mental health.
• Sleep:
  • 37 % of teens said TikTok use hurt their sleep.
• Productivity:
  • 29 % reported that TikTok affected their productivity.

Overall, the majority of teens indicated that the apps had “neither helped nor hurt” their mental health, sleep, or productivity.

Differences Between Teens and Parents

• Teens:
  • Some teens noted that social‑media apps, particularly Snapchat, helped their friendships.
  • Snapchat showed a “somewhat higher rate” of bullying and harassment compared with Instagram and TikTok.
• Parents:
  • About 40 % of parents believed social media hurts their kids’ sleep and productivity.
  • Roughly 25 % thought it hurt their mental health.
  • 44 % of parents with TikTok‑using teens said their child spent “too much” time on the app.
  • Parents were generally more likely than teens to label their teens’ usage as excessive across all platforms.

Context and Legal Landscape

• The findings contrast with narratives used by lawmakers, regulators, and critics who advocate for bans or litigation against platforms.
• Meta, Snap, and TikTok are currently facing lawsuits alleging that they have deliberately created addictive features and enabled other harms to teen users.

Previous Pew Research

• This is not Pew’s first teen‑social‑media poll. A prior report found that teens were more worried about social media overall, even though they were less likely to say they had been personally negatively impacted.