New Report Reveals What Teen Girls Think About TikTok, Instagram, and the Impact That Social Media Has on Their Lives

Common Sense Media released a new research report that reveals what teen girls think about TikTok and Instagram, and describes the impact that these and other social media platforms have on their lives. According to the report, Teens and Mental Health: How Girls Really Feel About Social Media, nearly half (45%) of girls who use TikTok say they feel “addicted” to the platform or use it more than intended at least weekly. Among girls with moderate to severe depressive symptoms, roughly seven in 10 who use Instagram (75%) and TikTok (69%) say they come across problematic suicide-related content at least monthly on these platforms.

Common Sense Media surveyed more than 1,300 adolescent girls across the country to better understand how the most popular social media platforms and design features impact their lives today. Among the report’s key findings, adolescent girls spend over two hours daily on TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat, and more than 90 minutes on Instagram and messaging apps. When asked about platform design features, the majority of girls believe that features like location sharing, public accounts, endless scrolling, and appearance filters have an effect on them, but they’re split on whether those effects are positive or negative. Girls were most likely to say that location sharing (45%) and public accounts (33%) had a mostly negative effect on them, compared to other features. In contrast, they were most likely to say that video recommendations (49%) and private messaging (45%) had a mostly positive impact on them.

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“For years, Common Sense Media has said that social media, particularly its addictive design features, have been problematic, and now teen girls themselves are sounding the alarm, said Jim Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media. “This report reaffirms that social media is addicting our kids and exposing them to online harms, undeniably. If Big Tech companies are not going to listen to parents or policymakers, then maybe they’ll start to listen to the kids and teens who are telling them point blank that social media is putting their mental health and safety at risk.”

Common Sense Media also announced today that the organization is launching the “Healthy Young Minds” campaign, a multiyear initiative focused on building public understanding of the youth mental health crisis, spotlighting solutions, and catalyzing momentum for industry and policy change. At launch, Common Sense Media released an exclusive interview between Jim Steyer and United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. Town halls are scheduled for New York City, Arizona, Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Florida, Massachusetts, London, and Brussels, with more locations to be announced shortly. Further research and digital well-being resources for educators will be released in the coming year.

SOURCE: PR Newswire