Social media use has risen dramatically across the world over the past two decades. Yet researchers have wondered: Why does the negative impact of social media show up strongly in some countries — but not in others?
The World Happiness Report, released Thursday by scholars from universities in Canada, the U.S. and China, proposes a startling answer. The fact that western countries show such consistently negative emotional impacts from social media, they conclude, is tied to the way so many young people today are using it to consume visual content passively.
By contrast, countries where platforms are used primarily to enhance communication do not show the same negative effects.
Here are 10 findings that stand out from the report.
1. Many young people would rather not use social media
In a world where many adults take for granted that young people are clamoring for a chance to get on social media, it’s striking that in a sample of U.S. college students shared in the report, “the majority wish that social media platforms did not exist.”
“They use them because others are using them, but they would prefer it if no one did,” the report states. “If social media use were somehow reduced or even stopped, many people would be better off, and they are aware of that fact.”
2. Dosage matters
A French study of 15-year-olds in 47 countries shows that “those who use social media for more than seven hours a day have much lower well-being than those who use it for less than one hour,” according to the report.
Youth using social media at the highest rates had the lowest life satisfaction. The highest life satisfaction corresponds to lower usage rates. Across regions, girls who didn’t use social media at all were “the most likely to report complete satisfaction with their lives.”
In fact, the authors say, “All internet activities are associated with lower life satisfaction at very high rates of use.”
3. Facilitating connection most helpful
Compared with internet use for gaming, social media or just “browsing for fun” — which are associated with lower life satisfaction — there are other ways to use the internet that are associated with higher life satisfaction: “communications, news, learning, and content creation.”
Latin American data also shows that platforms “designed to facilitate social connections show a clear positive association with happiness,” they say.
4. Passive consumption most harmful
The same Latin American data also shows that platforms inviting compulsive viewing through “algorithmically curated content tend to demonstrate a negative association at high rates of use.”
Middle East and North Africa data likewise document emotional problems among youth connected with platforms “where the main use is passive, and the main material is visual (encouraging social comparisons).”
5. Internet impact varies by generation
Internet use appears to impact people differently across generations. As the authors summarize, the impact of the internet on well-being is “strongly negative for Gen Z, moderately negative for millennials, near zero for Gen X, and slightly positive for baby boomers.”
This reflects both higher exposure among young people and the different ways older and younger people use the internet (with more passive consumption among young people).
These generational differences are “widening,” the authors note, adding: “Older adults benefit from stable trust, rising attachment, improved safety, and moderate digital use, while younger adults face the erosion of these foundations in highly saturated digital ecosystems.”
6. Internet impact varies by trust
The authors describe internet and social media use affecting well-being “indirectly by altering trust, social connections, and emotional bonds.”
They also add that “internet use can be positive for individuals with high interpersonal trust or strong attachments to their countries.”
7. Overall ‘harm at a population level’
The ways most people use the internet justify broad concern, according to the report. From sextortion and cyberbullying to depression and anxiety, the authors conclude that these risks “are so diverse and vast in scope that they justify the view that social media is causing harm at a population level.”
The report notes that “the rapid adoption of always-available social media by adolescents in the early 2010s” was in fact “a substantial contributor to the population-level increases in mental illness that emerged by the mid 2010s in many Western nations.”
8. More than just social media
The authors clarify that this doesn’t mean social media “fully explains the worrying decline in youth well-being” — pointing toward “many factors” contributing, including family dynamics, economic pressures and offline social changes.
9. A trend toward higher age limits
More countries across the world are moving toward higher age limits for social media. That includes Australia, where the government implemented 16-year-old age restrictions for many social media platforms starting in December 2025. Denmark, France and Spain are planning similar regulations.
10. Social media doesn’t have to depress us
Implicit in the report is this question: What would happen if people used social media primarily to facilitate communication and create positive content?
Evidence from across the globe demonstrates links between social media use and well-being that are surprisingly positive — especially outside of English-speaking Western countries where passive consumption has become normal.
The authors underscore Gallup and French data showing “significantly higher youth well-being in countries that spend more time using the internet for communication.”