The impact of social media on young people’s mental health is not fully understood, yet this hasn’t deterred Congress, state legislatures, and the U.S. Surgeon General from pushing for age restrictions and warning labels on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.

However, focusing too much on the dangers of social media might lead policymakers to overlook the mental health benefits these platforms offer to teenagers, according to researchers, pediatricians, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

In June, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, the nation’s leading health official, suggested that social media platforms should carry warning labels. Following this, the Senate passed the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act and a related bill, the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, on July 30. Additionally, over 30 states have proposed legislation related to children’s use of social media, including age bans, parental consent requirements, and new digital literacy courses for K-12 students.

Research indicates that certain aspects of social media can indeed be harmful. Algorithm-driven content can distort reality and spread misinformation, constant notifications can disrupt attention and sleep, and the anonymity provided by these platforms can fuel cyberbullying.

Yet, social media can also offer significant support to some young people, notes Linda Charmaraman, a research scientist and director of the Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab at Wellesley Centers for Women.

For children of color, LGBTQ+ youth, and others who may not see themselves widely represented in society, social media can help reduce feelings of isolation. Charmaraman’s research, featured in the Handbook of Adolescent Digital Media Use and Mental Health, suggests that age bans could disproportionately affect these marginalized groups, who often spend more time on these platforms.

“Initially, you might think, ‘That’s terrible, we need to get them off social media,’” Charmaraman said. “But when you understand why they’re using it, you realize it provides them with a sense of identity affirmation that they might be lacking in their offline lives.”

Seventeen-year-old Arianne McCullough uses Instagram to connect with other Black students at Willamette University, where only about 2% of the student population is Black.

“I know how isolating it can feel to be the only Black person, or any minority, in a space,” said McCullough, a freshman from Sacramento, California. “So having someone to text and hang out with is really important.”

After a month at Willamette, located in Salem, Oregon, McCullough had built a social network with other Black students. “We’re all in a little group chat,” she said. “We talk and make plans.”

However, social media wasn’t always this beneficial for McCullough. When California schools closed during the pandemic, McCullough stopped playing soccer and track, gained weight, and found her social media feeds flooded with at-home workouts and diet ads.

“That’s when the body comparisons started,” McCullough recalled, noting that she became more irritable, distracted, and unhappy. “I was comparing myself to others and became self-conscious about things I hadn’t worried about before.”

When her mother tried to take away her smartphone, McCullough reacted with an emotional outburst. “It was definitely addictive,” said her mother, Rayvn McCullough, 38.

Eventually, Arianne found she was happier when she reduced her social media use. But the fear of missing out pulled her back in. “I missed seeing what my friends were up to and having quick, easy communication with them,” she said.

For over a decade, before the COVID-19 pandemic led to what the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups called “a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health,” increasing numbers of young people were reporting mental health struggles.

According to surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention among high school students, more young people have been experiencing feelings of hopelessness, sadness, and even suicidal thoughts.

The rise in social media use, particularly the endless streams of videos on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, has been partly blamed for this crisis. However, a committee from the national academies found that the link between social media and youth mental health is complex, with both potential benefits and harms. The committee noted that evidence on social media’s impact on child well-being is still limited and called on the National Institutes of Health and other research organizations to prioritize studies in this area.

In its report, the committee cited a law passed in Utah last year that set age and time limits on young people’s use of social media, warning that such policies might have unintended consequences.

“The intent to protect time for sleep and schoolwork and reduce compulsive use could inadvertently isolate young people from their support networks when they need them most,” the report stated.

Some states have considered policies aligned with the national academies’ recommendations. For instance, Virginia and Maryland have enacted laws that prohibit social media companies from selling or sharing children’s personal data and require platforms to default to privacy settings. Other states, such as Colorado, Georgia, and West Virginia, have introduced curricula on the mental health effects of social media use for public school students, as recommended by the national academies.

The Kids Online Safety Act, currently being considered by the House of Representatives, would require parental consent for social media users under 13 and impose a “duty of care” on companies to protect users under 17 from harm, including anxiety, depression, and suicidal behavior. The second bill, the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, would prohibit platforms from targeting ads to minors and collecting personal data on young users.

Meanwhile, attorneys general in California, Louisiana, Minnesota, and other states have filed lawsuits against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, accusing the company of misleading the public about the risks of social media for young people and ignoring the potential harm to their mental health.

Most social media platforms require users to be at least 13 years old, and many include safety features like blocking adults from messaging minors and setting minors’ accounts to private by default.

However, the Department of Justice claims that some social media companies do not always adhere to their own rules. On August 2, the DOJ sued TikTok’s parent company, alleging that it violated child privacy laws by knowingly allowing children under 13 on the platform and collecting data on their usage.

Surveys indicate that age restrictions and parental consent requirements are widely supported by adults.

NetChoice, an industry group that includes members like Meta and Alphabet (Google and YouTube’s parent company), has filed lawsuits against at least eight states, challenging laws that impose age limits, verification requirements, and other measures aimed at protecting children.

The impact of social media largely depends on the content children are exposed to and the features that keep them engaged, said Jenny Radesky, a physician and co-director of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health.

While age bans and parental consent requirements may be well-intentioned, Radesky believes they don’t address what she sees as “the real mechanism of harm”: business models designed to keep young people posting, scrolling, and spending money.

“We’ve created a system that’s not designed to promote youth mental health,” Radesky said. “It’s designed to generate profits for these platforms.”