The World Happiness Report said many North American college students wish social media platforms “did not exist,” as researchers linked heavy social media use to declining well-being among young people, particularly teenage girls in English-speaking countries and Western Europe.
“They use them because others are using them, but they would prefer it if no one did,” the report said of US college students.
Researchers found that spending more than seven hours a day on social media, and in some regions more than five hours a day, was associated with lower life satisfaction and increased depressive symptoms.
According to the report, the sharpest declines in well-being over the past decade were recorded among teenage girls and adults under 25, coinciding with the expansion of social media use.
The findings identified algorithm-driven, image-focused applications such as Instagram and TikTok as more harmful to mental health than messaging-based platforms, including WhatsApp.
The Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre linked the decline in well-being to peer comparison, sleep deprivation, and online “product traps” that encourage users to remain connected to avoid missing social interaction.
Data from the PISA study of 15-year-olds in 47 countries showed that teenagers using social media for more than seven hours daily reported substantially lower well-being than those using it for less than one hour.
For girls in Western Europe, the gap in life satisfaction was nearly one point on a 10-point scale, almost double the difference recorded for girls in other regions. Among boys, the decline was nearly half a point in Western Europe and “essentially zero” in the other 35 countries studied.
The report said the negative relationship between social media and well-being appeared weaker or more mixed outside English-speaking countries and Western Europe.
In Latin America, platforms centered on influencers and algorithmic feeds were more strongly associated with lower life satisfaction than platforms primarily used for communication.
Researchers said youth well-being in the Middle East and North Africa had not declined despite heavy social media use, although extensive use was still associated with increased depression and stress.
The report comes as governments consider tighter regulations on minors’ access to social media. In December 2025, Australia raised the minimum age requirement for 10 social media platforms from 13 to 16, while Denmark, France, and Spain are considering similar measures.
