Social media linked to teen anxiety
A study published this week found children using social media more than three hours a day are likelier to develop anxiety and depression as teenagers — the effect is strongest in girls and is largely driven by disrupted sleep. (theguardian.com) The research sharpens the sleep-and-screen connection parents and clinicians have been warning about. (theguardian.com)
The paper, titled "Social networking site use, depressive and anxiety symptoms in adolescents: evidence from a longitudinal cohort study (SCAMP)," was published 3 February 2026 in BMC Medicine and lists Chen Shen and colleagues as lead authors. (link.springer.com) The analysis used data on 2,350 adolescents drawn from 31 schools in London, with baseline measures collected at age 11–12 and follow-up assessments at ages 13–15. (link.springer.com) Compared with 0–30 minutes daily, more than three hours per day of social networking site use at baseline was associated with higher symptom severity: adjusted OR for depressive severity 1.47 (95% CI 1.12–1.93) and for anxiety severity 1.40 (95% CI 1.06–1.83), and with clinically significant depressive and anxiety symptoms (OR 1.70 and OR 1.60 respectively). (link.springer.com) Mediation modelling showed insufficient sleep (especially on weekdays) and longer sleep-onset latency accounted for between 11.1% and 33.1% of the observed associations, while mediation by general sleep disturbance was smaller. (link.springer.com) The study measured exposure via self-reported duration of social-networking-site use at baseline and analysed outcomes using multilevel ordinal logistic regression for symptom severity and logistic regression for clinically significant symptoms. (link.springer.com) The findings come from the SCAMP cohort, established in 2014 to examine cognition, mobile-phone use and health; Imperial College London’s press release confirms the cohort and the 31‑school London sampling frame used for this analysis. (scampstudy.org) The authors conclude that addressing poor sleep hygiene linked to high social‑networking use could partially mitigate later depressive and anxiety symptoms. (link.springer.com)
