Teens wary of social media’s impact on their peers, states new report
A new Pew Research Center report finds teens are growing more wary of social media’s impact on their peers.
According to the report, roughly half of teens (48%) say social media have a mostly negative effect on people their age, up from 32% in 2022. But fewer (14%) think these platforms negatively affect them personally.
The report is based on a survey of 1,391 U.S. teenagers ages 13 to 17 and their parents conducted from Sept. 18 to Oct. 10, 2024, through Ipsos. The survey finds that 55% of parents report being extremely or very concerned about the mental health of teens today, compared with 35% of teens.
Still, states the report, there are notable differences by gender, and by race and ethnicity. Teen girls more often than boys say that they are extremely or very concerned about teen mental health (42% vs. 28%), and mothers are more likely than fathers to say the same (61% vs. 47%). Meanwhile, 70% of Black parents express high levels of concern about this, compared with 55% of White parents and 52% of Hispanic parents. Among teens, half of Black teens report being highly concerned, compared with 39% of Hispanic teens and 31% of White teens.
