Social media provides community for billions of people. But it also carries some serious risk. Research has linked heavy social media use to anxiety, depression and other serious mental health issues like eating disorders or self-harm. Some platforms have also become hotbeds for harassment or challenges that have injured children.
Social media is a tool that can offer both positive and negative mental health outcomes in terms of social well-being, positive mental health and self-rated health. But there are significant risks to be aware of.
Researchers suggest the key to protecting yourself from social media harm is in how you use it.
Dr. Ofir Turel, associate professor of information systems and decision sciences at the College of Business and Economics at California State University, Fullerton, speaking about the possibility of social media addiction explains, “Social media provides rewarding experiences that generate dopamine in the brain, the same substance produced when we eat cake or have sex. Over time, it trains your brain to want to check social media more and more often.”
The potentially addictive nature of platforms like Facebook and Instagram may encourage overuse. Researcher Mesfin Awoke Bekalu of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, however, explains that “We found that routine social media use—for example, using social media as part of everyday routine and responding to content that others share—is positively associated with all three health outcomes.”
Negative health outcomes, Bekalu notes, are associated with use such as, “checking apps excessively out of fear of missing out, being disappointed about or feeling disconnected from friends when not logged into social media.” He adds, “In more general terms, these findings suggest that as long as we are mindful users, routine use may not in itself be a problem. Indeed, it could be beneficial.”
Social media can have a profound impact on children and teens, especially when a significant portion of a child’s social interaction is carried out online.
It’s important to keep in mind that these impacts aren’t always negative. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, social media can provide children and teens with a strong sense of community while also breaking through physical barriers like distance or shyness that might otherwise prevent them from growing social connections.
But, despite those benefits, there are serious potential negative impacts to be aware of. Heavy social media use has been associated with increases in anxiety, depression, compulsive behavior and lower satisfaction with life.
A 2025 study published in the Journal of Psychiatry and Psychiatric Disorders found that a major factor in the potentially damaging effects of social media is comparison.
People who use social media often typically only post the best, most notable or most exciting parts of their lives. This can create a situation in which people are inundated with selective content and begin to believe their own lives are lacking or do not measure up to those of their friends.
Visual-based social media platforms can also highlight unattainable body and beauty standards, which can put teens at risk of eating disorders or body dysmorphia.
Nearly half of teens say that social media has a mostly negative impact on people their age, according to a 2025 Pew Research Center Study. That number is on the rise, after only 32% of teens felt that way in 2022. Teens have defined social media harassment as offensive name calling, spreading of false rumors, receiving explicit photos, constantly being asked their whereabouts, threats of physical harm and having explicit photos of themselves shared without consent.
Social media has created new opportunities for online harassment. According to National Center for Education Statistics from 2022, more than 20% of students reported that bullying happened online or via text. This eclipsed the number of students who said they were bullied in school.
Social media harm statistics from Pew show that social media is also the top reason that parents give when asked about what most negatively impacts teen mental health. This can be due to factors like cyberbullying,unrealistic body standards and more.
Trolling, internet slang for the practice of making comments or posts online to provoke an argument, hostility or any emotional response, also sometimes called “baiting,” is often designed to create drama. Both adults and teens share negative feelings about trolling online, with 39% of teens noting the drama can cause feelings of being overwhelmed.
Trolls often hide behind anonymity and target people because of their culture, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or disability.
Despite the potential for harm when trolls’ attacks may cause a social media “pile on,” about half of teens report that what they see on social media helps them feel more accepted. That number, however, has been on the decline in recent years.
When conducting a study, Bekalu and his colleagues found that social media benefits “were generally associated with younger age, better education, and being white, the harms were associated with older age, less education, and being a racial minority.”
Cyberstalking is using email, the Internet or other technology to stalk another person. It’s very similar to the physical form of stalking.
Cyberstalkers are deliberate and persistent. Online messages or emails from cyberstalkers often contain inappropriate and disturbing content.
Social media can also enable cyberstalking by giving stalkers access to troves of information, including photos to location data.
Online sexual harassment is any form of sexual exploitation or abuse that takes place through screens, according to The National Sexual Violence Resource Center. This includes unwanted requests for naked photos or videos, sending unwanted communication about sex or asking someone to livestream sexual acts.
Other examples of online sexual harassment or abuse include sharing private sexual images or videos without consent — also called revenge porn. It can also include performing sexual acts on a webcam without consent.
Social media’s effects don’t stop with mental harm. Physical injuries from viral challenges on the video-sharing app TikTok have included eye injuries, broken bones, severe burns and even deaths. While exact numbers are hard to come by, Bloomberg and Businessweek reported the “blackout challenge” alone was responsible for at least 15 deaths of kids 12 or younger in an 18-month period.
The blackout challenge — also called the choking or pass-out challenge — involved people choking themselves until they passed out and filming their reactions to the adrenaline rush when they regained consciousness. The act can easily result in serious injury or death.
The biggest reason reported by TikTok for removing videos is for “minor safety,” according to global business data platform Statista. In just one quarter of 2023, protecting minors’ safety was the reason for nearly one-third of the social media platform’s removals.
Most TikTok challenges that go viral wane in popularity over time. However, some continue to reach a wide audience and encourage dangerous behavior.
Concerns over social media and its mental health impacts have resulted in litigation. Thousands of social media addiction lawsuits have now been filed against the companies behind popular social media platforms over claims that they are designed to be intentionally addictive.
Lawsuits involve platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and more.
“American children are suffering an unprecedented mental health crisis fueled by Defendants’ addictive and dangerous social media products,” the master complaint for these lawsuits states.
People who have filed lawsuits claim that the dramatic rise of social media use among children was “no accident” and that companies like Meta and Google sought to induce young people to compulsively use their platforms.
They argue that these tactics are at the heart of a mental health crisis that has left users to deal with serious issues ranging from eating disorders and body image issues to suicidal ideation.
As of May 2026, there are 2,527 social media lawsuits pending in federal court. Many other cases are also active in state court.
In 2026, the first of these cases advanced to trial in Los Angeles. The case involved a woman who began using Instagram and YouTube at a young age and said they worsened her mental health.
In a landmark decision, a jury found that both Meta and Google had been negligent, ordering the companies to pay a combined $6 million to the woman. This was a seismic moment for these cases, as it marked the first time that social media companies had been held liable for the potential mental health impacts of their platforms.
More lawsuits are expected to advance to trial in the coming months as additional cases are filed.
Because overuse or misuse of social media may contribute to harmful behaviors, select strategies may help minimize negative effects. A key is being aware of how much time and the kind of time you or your child spend using social media.
If you or your child experience any of these symptoms, it may be time to decrease social media use. Here are some tips to minimize social media harm and improve internet safety for kids.
Setting a time limit for social media use may be helpful, especially for kids. One study found that people who limited social media use to 30 minutes a day decreased loneliness and depression over three weeks compared to those who didn’t set a time limit.
Be mindful of how you’re interacting with social media. Before you reach for your phone or pull up a social media app, take a moment to meditate and reflect on whether or not the urge to check your phone is more of a habit than a genuine desire.
Practicing active “mindfulness” or awareness may also be helpful. Using social media to engage in positive activities, such as the body positivity movement that research has shown to have benefits, may help counter negative aspects of social media. Finding volunteer opportunities and ways to help others may also help people feel more positively.
Protecting your information on social media can protect you against scams, cyberstalking and other harmful behaviors. Don’t overshare personal details or information.
Only accept friend requests from people you know. Two-factor authentication and strong, unique passwords that are changed often can also provide more security online.
Always report online harassment and harmful behaviors. Each platform has a method for reporting or flagging trolls and other online abusers.
Don’t “feed the trolls” or encourage aggressive posters. Their main objective is to get a reaction. If you ignore them, they’re less likely to continue harassing people.
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