UTHealth Houston Study Links Heavy Social Media Use to Teen Anxiety and Suicidal Ideation

Researchers at UTHealth Houston, led by Jeff Temple, published a study in Pediatrics Open Science showing a strong link between extensive social‑media use and mental‑health problems among adolescents. The longitudinal survey tracked 1,066 participants, averaging age 12 at the start, from 2018 to 2025. Teenagers who spent six or more hours per day on social platforms were twice as likely to report anxiety symptoms and three times as likely to experience suicidal thoughts compared with peers using less than one hour daily. Girls exhibited higher usage rates and a stronger association between screen time and anxiety. About 17 % of respondents fell into the high‑use category, while 8.5 % reported minimal use. The findings highlight the potential mental‑health risks of prolonged social‑media exposure for young people.