A new report by the World Happiness Report has found that excessive social media use is associated with declining life satisfaction among young people, particularly in English-speaking countries, while moderate use may yield positive outcomes.
The study highlights a notable drop in youth wellbeing across a group of countries identified as NANZ—North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Similar trends, though less pronounced, were also observed in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
According to the findings, access to the internet via mobile phones generally correlates positively with life satisfaction across most global regions. However, the relationship is significantly negative in NANZ countries, with the United Kingdom and Ireland also showing a weaker but still adverse pattern.
Drawing on data from 47 countries in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey, researchers found that limited internet use less than one hour per day is linked to higher life satisfaction compared to no usage. In contrast, increased time spent on social media, gaming, and casual browsing is associated with lower wellbeing, with the effect more pronounced among girls.
Despite these trends, the report notes that overall youth happiness across countries cannot be explained solely by the number of hours spent online. Regions with similar levels of social media usage often show widely differing wellbeing outcomes, suggesting that usage patterns and context play a more critical role.
The findings support the “Goldilocks hypothesis,” which proposes that moderate engagement yields the best outcomes. At balanced levels of use, young people tend to report higher life satisfaction, better academic performance, and a stronger sense of belonging. Excessive use, however, is linked to declines across these indicators.
The report also emphasizes that a sense of belonging at school has a far greater influence on youth wellbeing than social media use. Within-country data showed significantly stronger correlations between school connectedness and life satisfaction.
Researchers recommend closer scrutiny of social media platform design and user behavior, stressing that healthier online interactions and stronger offline social ties are essential to improving youth wellbeing in an increasingly digital world.
