Negative feelings about life are more common among teens on Instagram and TikTok
A new survey of American teenagers suggests that negative online experiences vary wildly by platform, with TikTok and Instagram users reporting much higher rates of sleep disruption and negative social comparison than those using YouTube.
A recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics reveals that negative experiences on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok are prevalent among teenagers. The research, conducted by a team of psychologists, communication experts, and technology policy specialists from prestigious institutions including Stanford, USC, and NYU, aimed to measure the frequency of various negative experiences teens encounter on different platforms.
The study, which involved a nationally representative sample of 472 American teenagers aged 13 to 17, found that 44.7% of participants had witnessed someone else being harassed both online and offline, while 29.8% experienced direct harassment themselves during the four-week survey period. More concerning was the prevalence of exposure to violent imagery (10.7% online vs. 1.6% offline), unwanted sexual images (13.4% online vs. 2.0% offline), and content encouraging self-harm (9.7% online vs. 5.2% offline).
The survey also indicated that half of the adolescents reported their technology use disrupted their sleep, with TikTok and Instagram users reporting higher incidences of sleep disruption (42.2% and 27.8%, respectively) compared to other platforms like YouTube (10.2%).
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