It’s Time to Acknowledge Social Media’s Impact on Teenage Girls

Heavy social media users are twice as likely to be depressed as light users, making it important for parents to consider limiting their teen's access or offering more beneficial activities. Eightshot Images/Getty Images

Last month’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, which found that nearly 1 in 3 teen girls seriously considered suicide in 2021, is the last straw.

It’s the last straw for researchers like me who have been sounding the alarm about teen mental health for years and often found ourselves dismissed. In data I analyzed for my upcoming book, “Generations,” teen depression doubled between 2011 and 2019 even before the start of the pandemic, and emergency room admissions for self-harm quadrupled between 2010 and 2021 among 10- to 14-year-old girls.