Gen Z will be the first technology 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 Middle reveals that almost 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 suppose social media impacts their psychological well being. They requested their mother and father, too. The examine surveyed almost 1,400 teen-parent pairs in the course of 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 information reveals that oldsters are extra anxious about teenagers’ psychological well being than their children are.
Greater than half of oldsters mentioned they’re “extraordinarily or very” anxious about teen psychological well being. Solely about one-third of teenagers mentioned the identical.
Extra teenagers are, because the youth may say, unbothered. Twenty-three % of teenagers mentioned they have been in no way anxious concerning the state of their technology’s psychological well being, double the quantity of unworried mother and father.
Dad and mom are more likely than their youngsters to say tech is the most important destructive drive on teen psychological well being, with a mixed 58 % naming social media and expertise generally as their high concern.
Solely 22 % of teenagers mentioned social media was the most important downside, and their responses confirmed that oldsters 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 women have been extra prone to be “extraordinarily/very involved” about teen psychological well being than fathers and boys.
Black mother and father and teenagers have been likewise extra anxious than different teams.
Couldn’t Be Me
Right here’s a stat that may have mother and father rolling their eyes.
The survey outcomes discovered an attention-grabbing contradiction: Teenagers general imagine that social media is dangerous to their buddies, based on the information, however really feel they’re personally resistant to its sick results.
Practically half of teenagers mentioned social media is usually destructive 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 doubtless reply to these numbers with a convincing, “Certain, Jan,” given the rise in telephone and smartwatch bans that college districts hope will assist college students deal with their classwork by eliminating the siren track of their social media notifications.
Feeling Linked, Eager to Unplug
Whereas grownup conversations about social media are inclined to middle on the way it distracts teenagers from the true world, teenagers overwhelmingly mentioned they see their digital world as a spot the place they will join with buddies and be inventive.
However their experiences additionally fluctuate throughout genders and ethnicities.
Women reported feeling each the optimistic and destructive results of social media extra strongly than boys. Sixty-eight % of ladies mentioned posting on social media gave them a spot to showcase their creativity, 10 proportion factors greater than boys. Thirty-six % of ladies felt strain to put up content material “that can get a number of feedback or likes,” whereas 26 % of boys mentioned the identical.
Black teenagers have been extra doubtless — in some circumstances, more likely — to say they skilled a number of help and inventive spark from social media. The biggest 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 related to buddies and like they’ve a help community, Pew researchers famous that these numbers have been sliding over the earlier two years.
The largest dip was the proportion of teenagers who mentioned utilizing social media made them really feel supported although powerful 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.
