Mountains of Evidence

Two new projects catalogue research on social media’s many harms to adolescents. Some of the strongest evidence comes from Meta.

Jon Haidt and Zach Rausch

Jan 14, 2026

Much of the confusion in the debate over whether social media1 is harming young people can be cleared away by distinguishing two different questions, only one of which urgently needs an answer:

The historical trends question: Was the spread of social media in the early 2010s (as smartphones were widely adopted) a major contributing cause of the big increases in adolescent depression, anxiety, and self-harm that began in the U.S. and many other Western countries soon afterward?

The product safety question: Is social media safe today for children and adolescents? When used in the ordinary way (which is now five hours a day), does this consumer product expose young people to unreasonable levels of risk and harm?

Social scientists are actively debating the historical trends question — we raised it in Chapter 1 of The Anxious Generation — but that’s not the one that matters to parents and legislators. They face decisions today and they need an answer to the product safety question. They want to know if social media is a reasonably safe consumer product, or if they should keep their kids (or all kids) away from it until they reach a certain age (as Australia is doing).

Social scientists have been debating this question intensively since 2017. That’s when Jean Twenge suggested an answer to both questions in her provocative article in The Atlantic: “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” In it, she showed a historical correlation: adolescent behavior changed and their mental health collapsed just at the point in time when they traded in their flip phones for smartphones with always-available social media. She also showed a correlation relevant to the product safety question: The kids who spend the most time on screens (especially for social media) are the ones with the worst mental health. She concluded that “it’s not an exaggeration to describe iGen [Gen Z] as being on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades. Much of this deterioration can be traced to their phones.”

https://www.afterbabel.com/p/mountains-of-evidence

In court:

Zuckerberg grilled in landmark social media trial over teen mental health

Meta chief says it has improved identifying underage users but adds ‘I always wish we could have gotten there sooner’

Sanya MansoorWed 18 Feb 2026 19.37 GMT

The Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, testified at a landmark trial of social media companies on Wednesday. Plaintiffs’ lawyers grilled Zuckerberg about internal complaints that not enough was being done to verify whether children under 13 were using the platform.

Zuckerberg claimed Meta had improved in identifying underage users but also said: “I always wish that we could have gotten there sooner.”

Zuckerberg also said some users lie about their age when joining Instagram and that the company removes those it identifies as underage. The plaintiffs’ lawyers hit back at those claims: “You expect a nine-year-old to read all of the fine print? That’s your basis for swearing under oath that children under 13 are not allowed?” After repeated questioning about age verification, Zuckerberg said: “I don’t see why this is so complicated.”

In response to questioning by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Zuckerberg also said: “I think a reasonable company should try to help the people that use its services.”

Asked about media training and his famously stiff responses to public questioning: he said: “I think I’m actually well-known to be sort of bad at this.”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/18/mark-zuckerberg-meta-trial-testimony