Comprehensive report suggests little danger to teens from social media

A little while ago the National Academies of Science was asked to look at the effects of social media on teenagers. They reported back today, and while they recognized the frenzy around social media they simply didn't find much evidence of harm:

The committee’s review of the literature did not support the conclusion that social media causes changes in adolescent health at the population level.... Studies looking at the association between social media use and feelings of sadness over time have largely found small to no effects.

The report is careful to note that there are some documented negative effects, primarily among very heavy users of social media and among teens who are already depressed. However, those effects were quite limited, and they took care to point out that social media also has lots of benefits:

One of the most obvious potential benefits of social media is its power to connect friends and family.... Adolescents use social media to maintain friendships and explore their identity, both central developmental tasks for their age.... Social media can be valuable to adolescents who otherwise may feel excluded or lack offline support, including patients with rare diseases or disabilities, and those who struggle with obesity or mental illness, or come from marginalized groups such as LGBTQ+ young people.... Social media can help adolescents cope with grief and bereavement offering the opportunity to connect with people who have experienced a similar loss.

....Social media use predicts a greater ability for reading and navigating information online.... Social media for academic writing has been associated with less writing anxiety and a great sense of agency for the students to write about topics important to them.... Online networks for shared hobbies, interests, or identities can be also important for young people.... In qualitative studies, youth report being more aware of social and political events due to social media.

The report gives equal time to potential negative effects of social media, including those on depression, sleep, reduced attention, and body image. Overall, though, it finds that these negative effects are both small and supported by weak evidence.

This strikes me as a well-done report. It remains clear-eyed about possible problems and solutions, but pushes back against the hysteria that often surrounds discussions of social media. For that reason, I suspect it will be ignored, but you never know.