Teens who spend more time with social media are more likely to suffer from social withdrawal, anxiety or depression, a new study says.
Twelve- to 15-year-olds who spent more than six hours a day on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media were nearly three times more likely to have these types of "internalizing" mental health issues, researchers report in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. The study was published online Sept. 11.
These teens also were more than four times as likely to have both internalizing and externalizing mental health problems, researchers said. Externalizing problems include bullying, acting out and having trouble paying attention.
For the study, researchers analyzed nationwide data from a U.S. federally funded survey of nearly 6,600 teens. It was conducted between 2013 and 2016.
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