Mental health issues among teens have been rising for more than a decade, and some experts wonder how much social media use is to blame. If you’re a parent questioning if—and how—you should monitor the way your teenager uses social media, you’re not alone. In the spring of 2023, United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, released an advisory called Social Media and Youth Mental Health, in which he says there is growing evidence that social media is causing harm to young people’s mental health. Soon after, the American Psychological Association (APA) issued its own health advisory. A year later, in June 2024, Dr. Murthy called for a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, which would require an act of Congress to implement. In August 2026, the conversation shifted. Meta agreed to pay up to $17 billion over the next decade to settle a lawsuit brought by attorneys general in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories who alleged that Facebook and Instagram were designed to be addictive to children and that Meta knew about and concealed the risks to teens’ mental health. Meta agreed to build default protections into its apps for users under 18: a two-hour combined daily time limit on Facebook and Instagram, an automatic block on access from midnight to 6 a.m., silenced notifications during school hours, and the removal of “like” counts on minors’ posts. None of this resolves the entire matter, however. While there are indicators that it can have a profound risk of harm to teens, social media use aimed at making healthy connections with others may actually be beneficial to some people. Dr. Murthy’s report indicates that more research is needed to fully understand the impact of social media. For parents, this means there are no easy answers. “The issues we face now with social media are similar to those we faced when television came out,” says Linda Mayes, MD, chair of the Yale Child Study Center (YCSC). She explains that, as with TV watching, there are pros and cons to social media for young people. “So, how do we help parents filter out the parts that may be detrimental?” Below, Dr. Mayes and YCSC’s Yann Poncin, MD, a child psychiatrist, offer advice for parents trying to help their teenagers use social media in a positive way. But first, some background.
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