Social Media Addiction

Social media addiction, though not a clinical diagnosis, refers to the idea that infinite scroll, notifications, and algorithms override one's ability to stop using them.

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, contends that children are losing the ability to pay attention as they spend half their lives perusing social media content designed to hook them.

Our phones can provide a dopamine hit because of our positive associations with them, which feeds into what some psychologists call social media addiction.

Social media can be a valuable public health tool, combating misinformation, advancing health research, boosting social mobilization, and raising awareness of health services and events.

Facebook's internal documents show that though the company publicly plays down Instagram's harms, its own research found that Instagram has promoted mental health issues for teens.

As thousands of lawsuits proceed against social media companies for alleged harm, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the seven main arguments for holding social media companies legally responsible.

In this live interview with phone-free childhood advocate Jonathan Haidt, host Ava Smithing—of Gen-Z—presses Haidt on why there isn't more of a research consensus on the mental health implications of social media for children, among other contentious topics.

In a spring 2026 survey, more Americans said they support a ban on students using cellphones during the entire school day than oppose it.

Celebrities are able to promote prescription drugs on social media without any required mention of potential side effects due to a legal loophole.

The first social media platforms date back to the late 1990s, and their algorithms were typically chronological, with entities like MySpace and Facebook feeding users content from the most recent posts to the oldest.