Teenagers in the social media era: The issue of young people's mental health

TikTok is "one of the worst social networks attacking our youth". Such was the conclusion of a French report published in September 2025 by a parliamentary inquiry commission, launched on 13 March 2025, to examine the psychological effects of TikTok on minors. With over twenty-seven million monthly users in 2025, the Chinese-owned social media platform has become one of the most popular, and has seen its use soar over the past five years. Yet, TikTok is not an isolated phenomenon. Its success illustrates the recent rise in the power of social media, which has woven itself into the daily lives of millions of people.

The Covid-19 pandemic, and there strictions that came with it, led to a profound transformation in digital practices, accelerating the widespread adoption of social networks. Today, these platforms are no longer used simply for social interaction. They have become spaces for news and information, advice, entertainment and following influencers. And their use now begins at an early age. According to e-Enfance, an association specialising in online child protection, 86% of 8-18 year-olds in France have a social media account. Even more tellingly, among teenagers, social networks and their associated messaging services account for 64% of daily internet use compared with "only" 39% among the population as a whole.

This trend is not lost on healthcare professionals specialising in childhood and adolescence. "Like many psychiatrists, I'm faced with the use of screens and social media, which is transforming our clinical practice," says Olivier Bonnot, a child psychiatrist specialising in neurodevelopmental disorders and a professor at Université Paris-Saclay. "For example, in consultations, we're used to asking: 'Do you go out with friends? Do you go to birthday parties?' This is an important question for understanding how well the patient is integrated into their community. Now, we are having to add 'Are you in your school's WhatsApp group?' If you're not, it probably means you've been completely left out."

Adolescence, a time of change

This growth in social media use among young people raises many questions about the impact on their health. Especially since the teenage years are a crucial development stage, marked by a plethora of physiological changes linked to puberty, as well as emotional and social ones. "This is a time when everything is changing around the individual in terms of social ties and relationships with others," explains the child psychiatrist, who is also a researcher with the MOODS team (Depression, Suicide, Medication) at the Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (Cesp - Univ. Paris-Saclay/French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, Inserm/UVSQ). These upheavals make adolescence a vulnerable period for psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression.

Over the past ten years, a number of scientific studies have highlighted a worldwide deterioration in the mental health of young people. "Anxiety and depressive disorders have increased considerably - almost doubling - with anacceleration during the Covid-19 pandemic,"confirms Olivier Bonnot. What if the massive spread of social media had something to do with this? "This concurrence is an important element, but just because two things happen at the same time doesn't necessarily mean they're related. At this stage, nothing is conclusive," stresses the practitioner.

In 2024, a committee of experts, set up at the request of French President Emmanuel Macron, submitted a report entitled Enfants et écrans: à la recherche du temps perdu (Children and Screens. In Search of Lost Time), which denounced the deleterious effects of excessive screen time among children and teenagers. "In the case of small children, the studies are quite clear: exposure to screens is a real problem, with proven effects on their development," comments Olivier Bonnot. "For teenagers, the scientific literature is still being debated." Nevertheless, the report does highlight a number of harmful effects, particularly on sleep, an essential physiological process, the lack of which has been proven to have consequences for physical and mental health.

"Screens and the uses that are frequently made of them, in the evening or at night in particular, have direct and certain negative effects on the quantity and quality of children’s and teenagers’ sleep," the committee explains in the document. Although social media platforms are not directly to blame for this, they are one of the factors making smartphones so attractive, even at inappropriate times.
 

Underdeveloped social skills?

When it comes to exploring the potential effects of social media, another parallelism emerges. Recent surveys in France and elsewhere have highlighted a growing sense of isolation and loneliness among teenagers. Here too, concordance is not correlation, nor causation, "but social media use could well play a role," says Olivier Bonnot. "Adolescence is a period of intense social development," one of the most important aspects of which is empathy. "Empathy is something that develops overtime. In other words, it does not come naturally when we're young; it's something that has to be learned, reinforced and practised," says the specialist. "Empathic behaviours are generally developed by around the age of twelve. Individuals then use them most actively between the ages of twelve and eighteen." However, with the advent of social media, young people seem to be developing their social skills and human relationships much less than before.

"We now have teenagers who would rather talk to their friends on social media than see them in person. But this is not the same thing at all." Put simply, virtual relationships are far less effective than real ones and so, in the long term, spending too much time on social media platforms could lead to underdeveloped social skills in young people. "This creates individuals who are uncomfortable with real human relationships. But when we're not comfortable with something, we tend to avoid it." This phenomenon may be one way of explaining the rise in feelings of loneliness, itself a risk factor for mental health disorders. "In my clinical practice, I often see young people experiencing difficulties in the outside world, but who are fine when they're at home," explains the child psychiatrist. This is often accompanied by heavy social media use. Another concerning issue can also emerge during consultations: cyberbullying or online harassment. 

It's estimated that at least one in five children is today affected by cyberbullying, whether as victim, bully or witness. "This is a massive problem with terrible consequences," laments Olivier Bonnot. "Since 2013, there has been a twofold increase in the risk of developing psychiatric disorders, having difficulties at school or even dropping out altogether." The consequences are all the more severe because cyberbullying is particularly pervasive. "It used to be that if you went on holiday or changed schools, it would disappear. Now, it can follow you." While it's difficult to establish that social media is responsible for this issue, it is clear that it has become one of its main vectors.

According to a 2024 study by e-Enfance, 38% of children had been victims of cyberbullying via social media, while 44% were bullied via the WhatsApp messaging application. "It's not easy to analyse the source of the problem," concedes the specialist. "But it's obviously related, since without social media and without these digital aspects, there's no bullying."

Social media: glorifying thinness

Exposure to inappropriate content is another problem regularly attributed to social media. This was one of the main points covered by the report on TikTok, accused of allowing access to content that endangers its users. In November 2024, seven French families decided to take the Chinese social media company to court. They believe it is responsible for the deteriorating health of their children, who have been exposed to content promoting self-harm, suicide and eating disorders via the platform. This accusation resonates with, among other things, the rise of the hashtag "SkinnyTok", which circulates content on TikTok that glorifies being thin and shares tips for extreme dieting. 

Like other mental health disorders, eating disorders have increased signifi-cantly since the Covid pandemic. "Requests for consultations for eating disorders have exploded and relate to more severe forms. Since the care system is already unable to meet demand, this has created an extremely complicated situation in France," explains Nathalie Godart, a child and adolescent psychiatrist specialising in eating disorders at the French Children's health
foundation (Fondation santé des étudiants de France, FSEF) and a professor at Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ). This phenomenon once again raises the question of the impact of social media, but without a clear answer. "We have no evidence to prove a link between the rise in eating disorders and increased social media use. At the moment, it's too early to draw conclusions and no major studies have been conducted."

Eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder and although there is more awareness of such disorders today, their origins remain complex. The child psychiatrist, who is also a researcher with the Developmental Psychiatry team at the Cesp, explains: "We know that eating disorders are biopsychosocial conditions that develop along trajectories of vulnerability, the components of which vary from one individual to another." There is a wide range of risk factors that combine genetics, life experience and social interactions. While eating disorders develop throughout life, adolescence is a period of biological, social and emotional instability that can accentuate or even trigger certain risk factors, such as stress, low self-esteem and body dissatisfaction. And that's where social media comes in. While it may not be the direct cause of eating disorders, it does have the ability to "push the wrong buttons", or even be "the straw that breaks the camel's back".

According to Nathalie Godart, there are two aspects that are particularly problem-atic on social media platforms. The first is that they promote the ideal of thinness or even outright skinniness. "The SkinnyTok trend is nothing new. The media in general have always promoted thinness," highlights the specialist, also referring to the "pro-ana" websites that appeared in the early 2000s, promoting anorexia nervosa. With social media, however, the glorifica-tion of thinness takes on an "amplified, accelerated and highly accessible" form. On some platforms, "teenagers sometimes find themselves caught in algorithms that constantly feed them this kind of content, that ends up dominating their thoughts and taking on an excessive importance."

The second aspect is the misinformation about physical health and nutrition conveyed by online content. There is "a lot of misinformation out there about the physical ideal and how we eat and do sport. This can result in young people developing bad habits with nutritional consequences." As social media has become a reference point for many people, "all this creates standards that are potentially harmful to health." In individuals already presenting risk factors, these two aspects act as contributory factors in the development of eating disorders.

"In my consultations, I notice that people suffering from eating disorders are spending a lot of time on social media," says Nathalie Godart. "Social media use is now one of the issues covered to understand the patient's trajectory. But although we talk about it, it's not the main focus of care."

When social media use becomes addictive

A teenager glued to their smartphone, scrolling through content on their screen for hours on end: there's nothing benign about this scene any more. There are growing numbers of online articles reporting on young people's "addiction to screens". However, for Laurent Karila, a researcher at the Psychiatry-Comorbidity-Addictions laboratory (Psycomadd - Univ. Paris-Saclay/Greater Paris University Hospitals, AP-HP) and an addiction psychiatrist at Paul 
Brousse University Hospital, this term is inappro-priate. "Addiction to screens doesn't really mean anything. The actual addiction is to what is behind the screen," he corrects. In other words, we don't become addicted to the screen itself, but to what it conveys, such as a video game. Except that, while video game addiction is an officially recognised behavioural addiction, the problem is harder to comprehend for other digital uses. In the case of social media, for example, "we're talking about problematic use, with elements of addiction," explains Laurent Karila, co-author of a 2025 study on problematic smartphone use.

Although the time criterion is frequently used to describe excessive use, this alone is insufficient. "Addiction can be summarised using the mnemonic of the 5Cs: control, consumption, compulsion, continuity, consequences," continues Laurent Karila. These include loss of control, the overwhelming urge to consume, compul-sive activity, continuous use and negative health consequences for at least twelve months. Whether they involve a substance or an activity, addictions present similar neurobiological mechanisms, manifesting themselves through disruptions in brain circuits linked to reward, memory and learning, motivation and control. While these circuits are physiologically pro-grammed to work together, in the case of addiction, they become out of sync, leading to a loss of control and motivation.

"Schematically, addiction is thought to arise from a person's encounter with an addictive product or behaviour in an environment likely to trigger addiction," explains the addiction psychiatrist. But in reality, the phenomenon is much more complex. "Addiction is a multifactorial disorder that arises from the interaction of five major elements: personal development, the brain and its complexity, genetics, personality and psychological and emotional functioning, and finally environment." To become an "addict", these five factors have to be thrown off balance. So what happens in teenagers? It's important to remember that the brain doesn't reach maturity until the age of 20-25. Before that, "the brain is biologically more sensitive to rewards and less able to control impulses," which, coupled with psychological and social factors, makes teenagers more vulnerable to addictions.

Although problematic use is the result of many factors, social media companies are not blameless in this trend towards excessive consumption of online content. Over the last ten years or so, platforms have learned to manipulate various parameters to draw users into their virtual world. "Social media companies practise what I call 'the war for attention'," confirms Laurent Karila. In short, "everything is designed to grab users' attention and keep them on the platform." One example is the infinite scroll feature, which displays new content continuously. Other examples are the "Like", "Comment" and "Share" buttons on the platforms. "They aim to satisfy the user's need for affection and attention by providing a form of social approval," explains the addiction psychiatrist. "They're also used to provide ever-more targeted content to the user so that they're constantly presented with interesting content." 

There is clear evidence that these features are not without consequence. They foster genuine symptoms such as FOMO (fear of missing out) and athazagoraphobia - the fear of being forgotten or ignored - which manifests itself in the need for constant reassurance of affection from loved ones. "The lack of responses on Snapchat, or of 'likes' and comments on social media accounts, can trigger stress and over thinking." Like other practitioners, Laurent Karila has observed the various negative effects of intensive social media use on these young patients: anxiety, stress, sleep disorders, attention prob-lems, repercussions on schooling, a general lack of well-being, the list goes on. However, most of these young people tend to play down or trivialise their behaviour.

The importance of raising awareness of social media use

While social media is the focus of a growing body of scientific research, it will undoubtedly be several years before its potential impact on teenage mental health is clearly established. "It's very complicated to analyse phenomena in relation to social media and screens, because these are recent, current and evolving issues," stresses Olivier Bonnot. In the meantime, many are calling for stricter rules governing the use and operation of these platforms, especially for the youngest users.

The commission that led the parliamentary inquiry into TikTok is "a very good initiative, but we shouldn't focus solely on TikTok," says Laurent Karila. "We need to take appropriate, functional measures to limit the most addictive mechanisms, protect the most vulnerable and make all platforms accountable." And Nathalie Godart agrees: "We need to establish societal rules on accessing these platforms, especially in terms of age, with controls, because there is a real problem with children and young people accessing inappropriate and unsuitable content. And today it's extremely easy to get around things."

None of the three psychiatrists believe that social media should be demonised or banned. However, educating all generations on its use is essential. In his department at the Barthélemy Durand Public Health Institution (Établissement public de santé, EPS), in the Essonne region of France, Olivier Bonnot and his team have set up a social media training and awareness group for young people who are in hospital and their parents. The aim is to provide information on social media and educate people about the risks and negative aspects. It also explains how the algorithms responsible for selecting and displaying content to users actually work.

According to the child psychiatrist, however, the approach could go further. What if you had to have a license to access TikTok, Instagram or any other social media platform? "A car is very practical, it helps you get around, but it can also cause accidents. No one would think it normal to drive without a license," he argues. "So why shouldn't we have a license to use social media?" The question remains open for debate.

References :

• Bonnot O. et al., Digital applications in mental health: Status, challenges and perspectives, Annales Médico- psychologiques, 2025. 
• Natalia Robert et Nathalie Godart, Médias sociaux et santé mentale des adolescents, Revue du Praticien, 2023.
• Karila L. et al., Understanding Problematic Smartphone and Social Media Use Among Adults in France: Cross-Sectional Survey Study, JMIR Mental Health, 2025.