Social media and television are fueling teen depression through a cycle of toxic comparison, but video games appear to be off the hook.
Not all screens are equal: while social media and television are linked to rising depression in teens, video gaming is not. The harm comes from kids comparing their lives to the idealized images they see on feeds and screens, rather than just the act of sitting still.
This finding lets you stop fighting the wrong battle. If you’re spending your "parenting capital" nagging your kid to get off Minecraft but ignoring their Instagram or TikTok habits, you’re missing the actual risk factor. You don't need to ban all electronics to protect your teen’s mental health; you need to focus on the platforms that trigger self-doubt.
Focusing on the type of content rather than just the "minutes" helps prevent the "reinforcing spiral" where a depressed teen seeks out more social media to cope, only to have their symptoms worsen.
Researchers wanted to move past the "all screens are bad" narrative to see if specific types of media were more damaging than others. They were particularly interested in the "social comparison" theory—the idea that seeing someone else’s highlight reel makes a teen feel like their own life is a failure. By tracking the same kids for four years, they could see how an individual’s mood changed as their specific screen habits shifted.
Social media use is a direct predictor of depressive symptoms, and the effect is compounding.
- Every one-hour increase in social media use in a given year was associated with a 0.41-unit increase in depressive symptoms.
- Television use showed a similar but smaller link, with a one-hour increase in daily viewing associated with a 0.18-unit rise in symptoms.
- Video gaming and general computer use were not significantly associated with year-over-year increases in depression.
- The data suggests screen time doesn't hurt kids by "displacing" exercise, but rather by damaging self-esteem through "upward social comparison."
Gaming might be protective or neutral because it is often social, goal-oriented, and active, whereas social media is frequently passive and curated. When a teen plays a game, they are "doing" something; when they scroll a feed, they are "viewing" a version of reality that doesn't exist. The study also debunks the "displacement" theory—the idea that screens only hurt kids because they aren't exercising. In reality, even if your kid is an athlete, high social media use can still tank their mental health because the damage is psychological, not just physical.
This study is observational, so it can’t definitively prove that social media causes depression, only that they tend to rise and fall together. The data also relies on teens reporting their own screen time, and we know that people—including adults—are notoriously bad at accurately estimating how many hours they spend on their phones. Finally, the study followed 3,826 kids in Montreal; while the sample size is robust, local culture and school environments can influence how kids use technology.
- If your teen is a heavy gamer but seems generally happy, then prioritize your oversight on their social media apps rather than their console time.
- If you notice your child frequently commenting on how "perfect" an influencer's life or body looks, then initiate a conversation about the "curation" of digital lives to break the upward comparison cycle.
- If your teen’s mood has noticeably dipped, then look for signs of "doomscrolling," as the research suggests depressed moods can drive them to seek more social media as a (failed) coping mechanism.
- If you are encouraging more exercise to combat a teen's low mood, then don't assume the gym is a free pass for more social media—the content they consume can still be harmful regardless of how many steps they get in.
Stop worrying about the "screen" and start worrying about the "feed." You have scientific permission to let your kid play video games with their friends while being much stricter about the curated, high-gloss world of social media and broadcast TV. Reducing depression risk isn't about counting minutes; it's about managing the psychological toll of comparison.
Elroy Boers, Mohammad H. Afzali, Nicola Newton et al. (2019). Association of Screen Time and Depression in Adolescence. JAMA Pediatrics. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.1759 — jamanetwork.com