Social Media Especially Harms Girls’ Sleep and Mental Health

Teenage girls are more likely than boys to report negative impacts from social media on their sleep, self confidence, levels of productivity and mental health, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center.

In a survey conducted between September and October 2025, 50 percent of 13- to 17-year-old girls said that social media has hurt their sleep, versus 40 percent of boys the same age. A similar gap occurs for the issue of mental health (25 percent of girls, 14 percent of boys). However, the biggest share of respondents said social media sites neither helped nor hurt their mental health. Around one in five of both sexes said that social media had negative impacts on school grades.

Teens were more positive when it came to the question of friendships. Altogether, 30 percent of teenagers said that social media has helped their friendships either a little or a lot. Girls were slightly more likely to say that social media harmed friendships, at 9 percent versus 5 percent.

According to Pew, there were no meaningful gender differences among teens who say social media helped any of the aspects mentioned on this chart.

June 30 is World Social Media Day.