Study Links Social Media Use to Higher Incidents of Depression, Suicidal Thoughts in Youths

Among young people suffering from severe depression, the report found that 40% are overusing social media.

New research indicates that many children and teens who suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts also self-report that they overuse social media, adding to the growing evidence that establishes long-term mental health side effects associated with the apps.

The findings were published in the April 2025 edition of the Journal of Affective Disorders, indicating that a large percentage of children and teens who suffer from depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts also report that they have a problematic relationship with social media.

The study joins other research published in recent years that has documented how overuse of social media platforms can have detrimental effects on young people, including two studies released earlier this month, which also pointed out various social media mental health risks.

As a result, many families are now pursuing social media addiction lawsuits, alleging that the tactics employed by social media companies like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok have caused self-destructive behavior, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, suicides and long-term psychological damage among a generation of U.S. youth.

The new study was conducted by a team of researchers led by Madhukar H. Trevadi of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, looking at 489 participants from the Texas Youth Depression and Suicide Research Network, between the ages of 8 and 20. All of the youths surveyed were receiving treatment for depression, suicidal ideation or suicidal thoughts.

Among the survey participants, 40.3% reported that they had “problematic social media use,” which was defined as feeling discontent and disappointment when not using social media, but could also include higher amounts of screen time.

The researchers found that problematic social media users also had higher depressive symptoms, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

“As use increases, these data contribute to the empirical literature on the complex relationship between social media and mental wellbeing, suggesting problematic use is associated with poor mental health outcomes,” Trevadi concluded.

However, the team acknowledged that the study methods lacked a control population and were limited by participants’ self-reporting. They also noted that the sample group included a disproportionate number of white females, which may have skewed the results.

Social Media Addiction Lawsuits

As evidence continues to emerge that links social media to a variety of mental health problems, a steadily growing number of lawsuits have been filed against major social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, accusing them of designing algorithms that promote excessive user engagement and contribute to addiction. 

These lawsuits claim that the platforms’ design choices have led to serious mental health issues, including compulsive use, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide and exposure to child sexual exploitation.

As the number of these cases brought throughout the federal court system began to increase several years ago, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) issued an order in October 2022, centralizing all social media addiction lawsuits in the Northern District of California before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers for coordinated pretrial proceedings.

In a recent decision, Judge Rogers cleared the social media addiction lawsuits to proceed toward trial, after finding that the plaintiffs’ general negligence claims could proceed, which allege that social media platforms were intentionally designed to encourage addictive behavior and cause harm, particularly to young users.

Claims involving wrongful death, survival and loss of consortium were also permitted to continue, but only if the associated personal injury claims are found to be valid.