Social Media Impact on Children’s Mental Health

Increased worry about social media’s effects on the mental health of children rises with 84% of teens spending 8.3 hours each day on social media platforms, according to Twenge and Campbell (2019). The rapid increase in screen duration on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat presents mental health professionals, education professionals, and parents with an unprecedented new challenge. Public health authorities identify social media platforms impacting academic performance while distorting youngsters’ social connections and mental states (Keles et al., 2020). This study is a systematic review of peer-reviewed studies from 2015 to 2023 using PsycINFO, ERIC, and Google Scholar databases to review social media risks. The relationship between psychological well-being and screen time (Twenge et al., 2018) appeared alongside digital literacy protection and cyberbullying effects, while parental mediation strategies showed relevance (Livingstone & Helsper, 2008). Insights from the findings are essential for creating evidence-based digital wellness policies and interventions (Valkenburg et al., 2021). Future research can develop a two-fold approach by conducting brain imaging across time to monitor social media effects on young people’s brains and ethnological studies to examine digital lifestyles across different cultures.