Debates about social media and kids' mental health are getting us nowhere

I'm a psychologist who has studied this for over a decade. We've lost the plot.

Hi! I’m Jacqueline Nesi, a psychologist and professor at Brown University, co-founder of Tech Without Stress, and mom of two young kids. Here at Techno Sapiens, I share the latest research and practical tips on psychology, technology, and parenting. Subscribe to join 20,000+ readers, and if you like it, please share Techno Sapiens with a friend.

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5 min read

Last Wednesday, the CEOs of five social media companies (Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, X, and Discord) testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis.” Senators asked heated questions of the CEOs about children’s online safety, while aiming to build support for proposed legislation (e.g., Stop CSAM Act, Kids Online Safety Act).

One phrase kept coming up and, as usual, it got us nowhere.

That phrase? “Mental health.”

Let’s set the stage

Mark Zuckerberg framed his opening testimony with this statement:

“Mental health is a complex issue and the existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link between using social media and young people having worse mental health outcomes. A recent National Academies of Science report evaluated over 300 studies and found that research did not support the conclusion that social media causes changes in adolescent mental health at the population level.”

The senators weren’t thrilled about this. Here’s a later exchange that exemplifies much of the back-and-forth that occurred.

Sen. Jon Ossoff: “By the way, a 2023 report from the Surgeon General about the impact of social media on kids' mental health cited evidence that kids who spend more than three hours a day on social media have doubled the risk of poor mental health outcomes, including depression and anxiety. Are you familiar with that Surgeon General report in the underlying study?

Zuckerberg: I read the report, yes.

Sen. Ossoff: Do you dispute it?

Zuckerberg: No, but I think it's important to characterize it correctly. I think what he was flagging in the report is that there seems to be a correlation and obviously the mental health issue is very important, so it's something that needs to be studied further.

Sen. Ossoff: The thing is, everyone knows there's a correlation. Everyone knows that kids who spend a lot of time, too much time on your platforms are at risk, and it's not just the mental health issues. I mean, let me ask you another question. Is your platform safe for kids?”

Zuckerberg: I believe it is, but there's a difference between correlation and causation.

I listened to these exchanges with the feeling of a mom whose children are bickering over who ate the last french fry. Stop it! We’ve done this before already! This isn’t solving anything!

We’re getting distracted

I’ve dedicated my entire career to studying the role of social media in adolescents’ mental health. Clearly, I think this is an incredibly important issue, and one we should continue trying to understand. Children’s mental health is one of the most pressing issues I can imagine.¹

And yet: I’m increasingly convinced that debates about the role of social media in kids’ mental health are becoming a distraction.

Nearly every time we talk about kids and social media—in the news, in my conversations with the media, in this congressional hearing—we get caught debating the wrong question.

One side (the Zuckerbergs) say: “The research is inconclusive! We can’t prove that social media is causing adolescent mental health problems at the population level!”

The other side (the Senators) say: “Social media is the single definitive cause of mental health problems in adolescents!”

And so on.

The evidence on the relationship between social media use and mental health is complicated. We know this! (See this post and this one). If the question we’re asking is: “Is social media causing adolescent mental health problems?” the answer right now is: it depends. I firmly believe this is a critical question, and one we need to continue working to understand.

But here’s the thing: we don’t need to answer that question to start fixing things. We can begin by answering a much simpler question: “Should tech companies make changes to their products to protect children’s safety and well-being?” 

The answer to that? A resounding yes.

It’s become clear that social media companies have not done enough to protect kids online.²³ It’s also become clear that legislators have not done enough to regulate these companies. We can make social media platforms safer and better for kids. We can pass laws to fix what is broken about social media platforms. We can put common-sense protections in place—like defaulting teens’ accounts to stricter privacy settings, expanding parental controls, and limiting exposure to dangerous and harmful content.⁴ And we can do all that without needing to somehow prove that Social Media Is the Single Definitive Cause of Adolescent Mental Health Problems.

An analogy

Let’s imagine cars were under no federal regulation whatsoever. And now, let’s imagine that we began to realize certain features of cars weren’t very safe. Maybe some cars were designed with brake pedals that couldn’t be reached by people with short legs. Some had headlights too dim to work for people with poor vision. Some had sound systems that exclusively played the song “vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo,⁵ at a volume so loud, drivers couldn’t hear oncoming traffic. These things certainly might contribute to driving-related accidents and injuries.

Now, let’s say a debate took place between the CEO of a major car company and federal legislators, but the question they argued about was: “On average, across the entire population, are cars associated with injuries?” The car CEO began his testimony by saying, “Injuries are a complex issue, and the existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link between cars and injuries at the population level.” The legislators said, “All injuries are caused by cars! We need to get rid of cars completely so that no one will get injured anymore!”

And as they went back and forth, no one would suggest that we just go ahead and pass laws to stop the cars from blasting “vampire” during highway driving. Nor would anyone remember to address the many other causes of injuries in the population.

Let’s keep our eyes on the road

As the debate rages on over the role of social media in adolescents’ mental health, as we continue the fruitless search for evidence that Social Media is the Single Definitive Cause, social media companies continue operating without adequate oversight.

As tech CEOs make statements about “inconclusive evidence,” they distract us from the questions we can answer right now. We can make social media platforms safer for kids—we have all the evidence we need for that.

As lawmakers across the aisle team up against a common enemy, pinning the adolescent mental health crisis entirely on social media companies, they distract us from the many other factors that are critical for kids’ safety and well-being, from safe school environments to access to mental health services.

And as voices are raised, as senators ask tech CEOs questions like “Does your user agreement still suck?,” legislation goes nowhere. No laws are passed. The cars remain unregulated and the injuries still occur.

We can make social media platforms safer. We can support kids’ mental health. Let’s stay focused.

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1. This goes without saying, but the issues discussed in the hearing—children’s online sexual exploitation, loss of children to suicide—are some of the most horrific events I can imagine. I have seen these issues directly in my research and practice as a psychologist, and it’s hard to even find the words to describe the devastation they cause. We can all agree that no one wants families to go through this. Ever. In the pageantry and drama of a hearing like this, I hope we don’t lose sight of this. 

2. During the hearing, the tech CEOs spent a fair amount of time listing out all the different features they’ve put into place to protect kids. Zuckerberg, for example, named “30 different tools, resources, and features that parents can use to: set time limits for their teens using our apps, see who they're following, or report someone for bullying.” But the number of safety features doesn’t matter. What matters is the effect of these features, and it’s clear that these features have not done enough to protect kids online.

Now, I understand that these are complex issues. Meta has roughly 3 billion daily active users, which is a scale that’s kind of impossible to fathom. I am also of the (controversial?) opinion that the people who run social media companies are…just people. People who, like everyone else, probably agree that bad stuff should not be happening to kids. That means this is an issue of prioritization. 30 features is not enough. What we need is the full weight of these companies’ resources and talent solving these problems—and I think we’re going to need federal regulation to get us there.

3. You can find the full hearing transcript, as well as the written testimonies submitted by each tech CEO here. Really interesting to see how each social media company tried to position themselves. TikTok went a similar route to Meta—trying to list the safety steps they’ve taken—though, in the process, they also reminded everyone that a version of TikTok actually exists for kids under age 13 (!). Snap seems to be arguing that they are different than the rest because the platform was designed for one-on-one communication with family and friends (never mind the “Discover” page, which looks extremely similar to TikTok’s and Instagram’s video feeds). And X went with the old “kids don’t even like us” strategy—arguing that less than 1% of their users are teens.

4. See this collaborative review document, curated by Zach Rausch, Camille Carlton, and Jonathan Haidt, for a helpful overview of the many different policy proposals aiming to make social media better for kids, and this report from the National Scientific Council on Adolescence with recommendations for keeping kids safe online.

5. Do not ask me where this Olivia Rodrigo reference came from. Your guess is as good as mine. (Also, for those wondering, the song “vampire” is stylized in all lowercase).