Gen Z will be the first era to have childhoods rife with screens and outlined by having a second life on-line, however a few of their cohort may also be first to say that connectivity has its downsides.
New knowledge from the Pew Analysis Heart reveals that just about half of Gen Z teenagers say social media harms individuals their age, and roughly the identical share say they spend an excessive amount of time scrolling.
Researchers didn’t solely take Zoomers at their phrase about how they assume social media impacts their psychological well being. They requested their dad and mom, too. The research surveyed practically 1,400 teen-parent pairs throughout the fall of 2024.
Right here’s how the generations overlapped and diverged on teenagers’ digital lives and their psychological well-being.
Dad and mom Fear Extra
In a maybe unsurprising consequence, the info reveals that folks are extra nervous about teenagers’ psychological well being than their youngsters are.
Greater than half of oldsters mentioned they’re “extraordinarily or very” nervous about teen psychological well being. Solely about one-third of teenagers mentioned the identical.
Extra teenagers are, because the youth would possibly say, unbothered. Twenty-three % of teenagers mentioned they had been in no way nervous in regards to the state of their era’s psychological well being, double the quantity of unworried dad and mom.
Dad and mom are more likely than their kids to say tech is the largest damaging pressure on teen psychological well being, with a mixed 58 % naming social media and expertise normally as their prime concern.
Solely 22 % of teenagers mentioned social media was the largest drawback, and their responses confirmed that folks underestimated the results of bullying and social expectations.
There have been additionally variations amongst who’s worrying when the numbers are damaged out by demographics.
Moms and ladies had been extra prone to be “extraordinarily/very involved” about teen psychological well being than fathers and boys.
Black dad and mom and youths had been likewise extra nervous than different teams.
Couldn’t Be Me
Right here’s a stat which may have dad and mom rolling their eyes.
The survey outcomes discovered an fascinating contradiction: Teenagers general imagine that social media is dangerous to their buddies, in keeping with the info, however really feel they’re personally proof against its sick results.
Almost half of teenagers mentioned social media is usually damaging for his or her age group, however solely 14 % mentioned it was dangerous to them personally.
A plurality of Gen Z teenagers agreed that their social media utilization retains them from getting sufficient sleep (45 %) and that it tanks their productiveness (40 %).
However solely about one-fifth of younger respondents mentioned it hurts their grades, and one other half of teenagers mentioned social media has no impact on their efficiency in colleges.
Some educators would possible reply to these numbers with a powerful, “Positive, Jan,” given the rise in cellphone and smartwatch bans that college districts hope will assist college students concentrate on their classwork by eliminating the siren tune of their social media notifications.
Feeling Related, Eager to Unplug
Whereas grownup conversations about social media are likely to heart on the way it distracts teenagers from the actual world, teenagers overwhelmingly mentioned they see their digital world as a spot the place they’ll join with buddies and be inventive.
However their experiences additionally differ throughout genders and ethnicities.
Women reported feeling each the optimistic and damaging results of social media extra strongly than boys. Sixty-eight % of women mentioned posting on social media gave them a spot to showcase their creativity, 10 proportion factors greater than boys. Thirty-six % of women felt stress to put up content material “that can get plenty of feedback or likes,” whereas 26 % of boys mentioned the identical.
Black teenagers had been extra possible — in some circumstances, more likely — to say they skilled loads of help and artistic spark from social media. The most important hole was between teenagers who mentioned what they see on social media makes them really feel much more accepted: 25 % of Black teenagers in comparison with 10 % of white teenagers.
Whereas greater than half of teenagers mentioned social media makes them really feel extra linked to buddies and like they’ve a help community, Pew researchers famous that these numbers have been sliding over the earlier two years.
The most important dip was the proportion of teenagers who mentioned utilizing social media made them really feel supported although robust instances, which fell 15 factors to 52 % in comparison with survey outcomes from 2022.
Teenagers additionally made a U-turn on their angle about how a lot time they spend scrolling. From 2022 to 2023, the proportion of them who mentioned they went overboard on their social media utilization fell 9 factors to 27 %. That quantity shot as much as 45 % final 12 months.
