Adolescent social media use and its association with mental health: a cross-sectional study in Bradford, England

Abstract

Social media is a central part of the lives of adolescents in 2025. The recent rise of short-form content and gamification features has coincided with an increasing prevalence of mental health problems among this age group. Many policy makers are considering restrictions to the amount of time under-16s spend on social media. Despite this, there is limited contemporary evidence about the extent of their social media use, nor meaningful estimates of the effect a reduction may have on their mental health. Here, we estimate daily social media usage for adolescents in the culturally and ethnically diverse city of Bradford, England, plus its association with their mental health. We did a cross-sectional analysis of data from Born in Bradford: Age of Wonder 2023-24, a school-based survey of students aged 12-15 (n = 8,466). We weighted the sample to be representative of the city-wide population of 12-15-year-olds and report the median daily screen time spent on social media apps by age, sex, and ethnicity. We used a log-linear model to estimate the effect of daily social media screen time on anxiety and depression symptoms (RCADS-25), adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, free school meal eligibility, special educational needs, deprivation, and season of survey completion. Predictions from this model were used to estimate the change in prevalence of clinical threshold symptomatology associated with a range of daily screen time limits. The median time spent using social media apps was 3.36 h per day (IQR 1.88-5.44). Longer durations of social media use were associated with greater mental health symptoms after adjustment for potential confounders. In a scenario where this association is causal, capping social media use at a maximum of 3 h per day would lead to a 1.25ppt (95% CI 0.74ppt - 1.76ppt) decrease in the prevalence of clinical threshold symptomatology (a reduction from 10.7% to 9.5%), equivalent to 13 fewer cases in a typical school of 1000 pupils. All groups of adolescents spend a large of amount of time using social media apps each day. We observed a significant association between social media use and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Assuming a causal relationship, daily time limits placed on social media may yield meaningful reductions in anxiety and depression symptomatology. Nevertheless, we cannot demonstrate strong evidence of a causal relationship, and robust methods such as controlled trials or natural experiments are needed to precisely determine the benefits and harms of policies restricting access for under-16s.