Last week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the Senate Judiciary Committee that there is no link between social media and negative mental health outcomes among young people.
Zuckerberg’s statement was met with disbelief by many on the committee, who are all too familiar with stories of children enduring cyberbullying, extortion over explicit photos, and social media posts that glorify or encourage harmful and unhealthy practices. Moments later, he then had to face the parents of children who had been harmed by that same social media and apologize to them.
To support his claim, Meta later referred reporters to the American Psychological Association’s 2023 Health Advisory on Social Media Use in Adolescence as evidence. We agree with Zuckerberg when he said that it’s “important to look at the science” — as psychologists, we have actually done so. And as APA’s chief science officer and a longtime researcher into the impact of social media on kids, I can say that Zuckerberg cherry-picked data to suit his purposes.
The APA advisory, which was based on the best available science, showed that social media is related to psychological harm through online discrimination, prejudice, hate and cyberbullying. Research also has found that young people face serious risks when they are exposed to content about self-harm, harm to others or eating disorders. But what is key to know is that the advisory also outlined the science behind why certain features, functions and content on social media can be harmful to young people, whose brains have not yet fully developed.
The potential for harm is baked into Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms if young people use them as intended. Counts of followers or likes exploit children’s innate desire for social reward and their need to feel accepted by their peers. The endless scroll of posts challenges children’s ability to limit their social media use and time spent on screens before brain development in neural inhibition centers have fully developed. Friending and direct messaging functions may expose minors to predators. Research also shows that ongoing engagement on social media platforms are the primary cause of youths’ sleep deprivation, which has substantial consequences for adolescents’ mood, academic performance, and even the size and function of their developing brains.
Social media can have some benefits, such as promoting socialization, emotional intimacy and peer support, especially for kids from marginalized groups or who live in isolated areas. But we all need to be aware of the shortcomings and dangers of social media if we want our children to safely access those benefits.
Social media companies could do much more to minimize harm for young people, and dismissing the mental health dangers while standing in front of grieving parents and Congress didn’t help make their case. Zuckerberg said “no one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered” — it’s in his and the other tech CEOs power to make that a reality, by building in more age-appropriate controls, removing harmful content, making their data more available to outside researchers, and educating both young people and their parents about the risks of their products.
The adolescent years are crucial for brain development. The way that the teen brain matures makes this entire life stage a risky period for social media use, which social media developers must take into account. While social media is not the cause of the youth mental health crisis, it is exacerbating mental health concerns in many young people during their teen years, simply by using these platforms in exactly the way they are intended to be used.
This problem will not be solved by limiting access to these apps on mobile devices. Real change requires modifying the features and functions of the social media apps themselves, and for tech developers to prioritize the psychological health of children more than making a profit from the data they extract from minors.
The majority of the social media CEOs who faced the Senate committee this week declined to voice support for any of the proposed solutions making their way through Congress. They do so at their peril. These companies have demonstrated a lack of will to police themselves; it is past time for social media companies to implement processes to protect our kids.
How many more times will Zuckerberg apologize before real change is made?
Mitch Prinstein, PhD, is chief science officer of the American Psychological Association.
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