This Swedish nationally representative cohort study examined whether daily time on social media at age 15/16 (measured in 2017, n=5,535) was associated with depression and anxiety symptoms 5 years later in young adulthood (2022, n=3,193), with exploration of effect modification by gender, socioeconomic status, and physical activity.
After adjusting for confounders, social media time at age 15/16 was **not** significantly associated with anxiety (b = -0.00, 95% CI: -0.03, 0.03) or depression (b = 0.02, 95% CI: -0.00, 0.05) at age 20/21. No significant effect modification by gender, SES, or physical activity was found.
- Social media use was self-reported (hours/day), which may not reflect actual or harmful usage patterns; specific activity types (e.g., passive scrolling vs. active engagement) were not captured. - ~42% attrition between baseline and follow-up (5,535 → 3,193) raises the risk of selection bias. - Confounders were adjusted for, but residual confounding cannot be excluded in an observational cohort.
Clinicians can reassure families that raw daily screen time on social media in adolescence may not independently drive mental health problems in young adulthood once other factors are accounted for. However, this does not rule out harm from specific types of social media use, and further research into content and context of use is still needed.
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