There is a pervasive belief (backed up by evidence) that extensive social media use harms well-being, particularly in teens and emerging adults. Why does that happen, and what can be done about it?

This question was explored in a 2025 paper in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General by Amori Yee Mikami, Adri Khalis, and Vasileia Karasavva.

They reviewed research suggesting that there are several aspects of social media use that can harm well-being, along with others that can actually lead to better outcomes. Spending time on screens can lead people to compare themselves to others, which can make them feel worse about their lives and increase loneliness. Social media can lead people to be passive in their lives, which can increase their sense that they are missing out on wonderful things. This is particularly true when people on social media are comparing their lives to those of celebrities.

The researchers tested two strategies to decrease the negative influence of social media on well-being. One was an abstinence approach in which tutorials focused on the benefits of avoiding social media as well as specific strategies to help participants avoid social media. The second was a social learning approach in which participants were encouraged to use social media to create social connections and to avoid the pressure to idealize their life online and to unfollow or mute accounts that led them to make comparisons between themselves and others that led to bad feelings. These two approaches were compared to a control condition in which participants learned about the history of social media.

The measures in this study were taken over a 6-week period, and the tutorials were given in weeks 0, 2, and 4. Measures of social media use were collected throughout the study. Baseline measures of well-being were taken at the start of the study, and follow-up measures of well-being were done in week 6.

The abstinence training (compared to the control) led to fewer comparisons to other people, less intensity of social media use, and fewer comments on celebrity pages, all of which had a positive impact on well-being. However, the abstinence intervention (compared to the control) also decreased engagements with friends’ pages, which actually harmed well-being.

For the social learning manipulation (compared to the control), participants made fewer comparisons to others, and also tended to use social media less often. Interestingly, this manipulation led to decreases in participants’ feelings of Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and loneliness, suggesting that this approach had a direct positive influence on well-being.

While both manipulations were ultimately successful, there is some reason to think that the social learning approach is most sustainable. Telling teens and young adults to reduce social media usage may work over the short-term, but it may be hard to get them to avoid social media altogether for a long period of time. In contrast, teaching people healthier strategies for engaging with social media by focusing on connection with friends and positive interactions is something that can become sustainable.

Social media is a prominent part of our world. It is nice to know that even a fairly short set of lessons about how to engage with it positively can have a benefit on well-being. Future studies must explore whether manipulations like this can create habits that will lead to better mental health over a period of months and years rather than just weeks.