Podcast Dives Deep: Is Social Media Really Shaping Young Minds?

Is social media the problem? Cole begins by questioning how mental-health data is interpreted. He notes, “That rising rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm partly reflect falling stigma, broader diagnostic standards, and greater access to mental-health services. More teenagers are now being counted than in the past, he argues, which can make the crisis appear larger than it truly is.” He also challenges the idea that the present moment is historically unique. Cole points out that in the 1990s, the suicide rate for girls was only slightly lower than it is today, and for boys it was actually higher. If social media was the main cause of today’s problems, he says, it would be difficult to explain why outcomes were worse decades before smartphones and platforms existed. Cole also highlighted international comparisons. Countries such as New Zealand adopted social media early, and have high usage, yet they do not show the same teen mental-health pattern as seen in the United States of America. This suggests that wider social or cultural factors may matter more than digital platforms alone. Cole’s strongest evidence comes from a Stanford University study from 2025 in which thousands of people were asked to quit Instagram for six weeks. He mentions, “The result was a small improvement in emotional state — only 0.041 standard deviations. In psychology, 0.2 is considered the minimum for a meaningful effect, and 0.4 is considered clinically significant, showing that the Instagram effect was far below both thresholds.” Adam Cole and Joss Fong debate if social media is bad for teenagers or not. Pic courtesy/Youtube Agree to disagree Fong agrees that many studies are flawed but she also says that the data gathered in most researches measure hours spent online by the children, and not what actually happens online. The real harm comes from moments such as their text message being left on, "seen" by their peers, or not getting likes, seeing friends excluded, or finding a crush in someone else’s story.” She concludes by linking this to early exposure saying, “The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reports that 64% of 11- and 12-year-olds already have social-media accounts, even though the minimum age is 13, and by age 13, the children spend an average of four hours daily on social media, making young adolescents especially vulnerable to digital judgement resulting in the rapid decline of their mental health.” To summarise, the debate remains unsettled from both sides. With the data pointing in different directions it is clear that this might just get more complicated in the future.