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Whether reconnecting with old friends, sharing life’s milestones with loved ones or networking among work colleagues, social media has become indispensable for many adults and can be both a convenient and powerful way to maintain relationships and grow professionally.
Teenagers, however, log on more frequently, engage more intensively and increasingly define their social identity through online interactions. That level of immersion comes with heightened risks alongside any benefits.
Here’s what percentage of teens actually use social media, how often they’re doing so and why the platforms can be uniquely harmful to them.
What percentage of teens use social media?
Research shows that 95% of youth ages 13 to 17 report using social media. “It’s near ubiquitous,” notes Dr. Jason Nagata, a pediatrician at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco and co-author of numerous social media studies.
Even children younger than the official minimum age of 13 are active users. In fact, nearly 40% of kids between the ages of 8 and 12 ignore platform age restrictions to use the networking services, per Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Teens are primarily drawn to platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook “to connect with others, share personal or negative experiences, and form new online friendships,” says Elizabeth Hoge, a psychiatrist and director of the Anxiety Disorders Research Program at Georgetown University.
Nagata adds that some kids also use social media for entertainment and educational purposes, and that minority groups like LGBTQ+ youth use social media “to find and receive support from people not available in their local communities.”
Regardless of their reasons for doing so, engagement levels are strikingly high among teens and many of them can’t pull themselves away. Nagata points to research he’s co-authored showing that 25% of them report spending significant time thinking about social media even when they’re not online, 25% of teens say they use it to forget their problems and 17% admit they’ve tried to cut back but can’t.
Why is social media bad for teens?
Such heavy use exposes teens to a cascade of risks, with mental health impacts topping the list. A 2025 longitudinal study, for instance, found that increased social media use among preteens predicted rising depressive symptoms. Other research ties heavy use to increased anxiety, low self-esteem, self-harm behaviors, disordered eating and even suicidality. “Our research also found that adolescents with greater social media use are at higher risk of developing mental health disorders like ADHD,” says Nagata.
Much of the harms associated with social media stems from social comparison. “Negative self-image among teens often comes from unhealthy comparisons to people online who might be heavily edited or filtered,” says Joanne Broder, a New Jersey–based psychologist and fellow of the American Psychological Association. She adds that problems also arise “from spending more time socializing on social media than with people in real life” and from not having as much time to participate in healthy and meaningful physical activities.
Excessive use also carries physical consequences. “Many teens experience less sleep, sleep disruptions and poorer sleep quality,” says Hoge—problems reported by about 45% of teens. Poor sleep, in turn, can cascade into weight gain, higher blood pressure and lower productivity.
Exposure to harmful content is another risk as studies show that teens are more likely than adults to stumble upon self-harm imagery or extremist propaganda. Broder adds that they are also more inclined to join risky or even life-threatening online dares or “challenges” because they are less likely to identify harms or may struggle distinguishing fantasy from reality.
Concerns are serious enough that in 2024, the U.S. Surgeon General recommended tobacco-style warning labels for social media use.
How can parents help teens use social media more responsibly?
Parents play a pivotal role in shaping healthy habits. For instance, a 2024 study found that when parents model high screen use themselves—such as during meals, in bedrooms or in shared moments—it correlates with greater teen screen use.
Hoge recommends creating a family social media plan to help teens monitor their own usage and reflect on what feels like “too much.” Open dialogue, she adds, helps teens feel supported rather than simply restricted.
Beyond the home, “schools are encouraged to adopt prevention programs such as avoiding cell phones in school,” says Hoge. The experts also recommend keeping devices out of bedrooms at night, establishing screen-free meals and even considering delaying access until mid-adolescence. A growing body of research supports waiting until age 16, when teens are better equipped to handle peer comparison and algorithm-driven feeds.
In the end, “social media is not inherently bad or good,” says Nagata. He points to associated opportunities such as connection, communication and education as clear upsides. “But time spent on social media can also displace time for other healthful activities, and certain exposures can worsen mental health, so balance and caution are key.”
