Do you think social media is the No. 1 factor behind America’s recent uptick in teens experiencing mental health problems?

👍 Yes (57%) – "Social media-and the inability to step away from it-makes it more difficult for kids to weather all the other difficulties/tragedies that they have in their lives. With everyone connected all the time, and lots of ways to get around parental controls, teens don’t have a way to unplug, rest, and restore themselves."

• "There are so many trolls that are on social media that want to attack people because of who they look like or what they say and social media does not do enough to block or stop these nuts from appearing on social platforms. Young people especially are vulnerable to that kind of a diatribe."
• "I feel like no matter what other problems you think are number one, social media still makes it worse by amplifying it and showing it to people who otherwise would not have known about it. It gives them constant access to news about school shootings, political tensions, and other crises. It doesn't help that these companies have algorithms that are designed to promote negative content in order to keep users on the sight longer."
• "The constant world of the internet provides a make believe world that everything is dandy. It never reflects the other side of ones day, but instead provides the illusion that they live a great life style. This impacts our children into thinking that what they are what they are doing isn't good enough."

👎 No (26%) – "It sounds cliche, but I think Covid really took a toll on teens. Not being in school for so long, and then once they went back, there were like a million restrictions. Being isolated and being able to socialize, that takes a lot on a young brain."

• "I think it is number 2. The number one reason for teens mental health issues is parenting. We are afraid to upset folks and do not mention that as the divorce rate climbed so did mental health issues for teens. Divorced parents let their children do far more things than most non-divorced parents. And that includes monitoring their social media use."
• "It's certainly a contributing factor, but I don't think it's the number 1 factor. Unpopular opinion but I think the uptick is because it's considered cool, attention-seeking, or there's some other 'reward' (social, educational, etc.) associated with having a mental health problem and then people start believing they actually have one. We've created a generation of children who default to mental health every time something is difficult, and it's drawing resources away from people who need them."

🤷 Unsure/other (17%) – "Social media does have a large impact, but I'm not so sure it's the number one cause. The current state of the world is incredibly worrisome with a plethora of environmental issues, gun violence concern, and massive inequality problems, to name a few. These factors are likely things that are above social media."