Why was the research needed?
Social media platforms (for example, Instagram) are popular among young people, mostly used via a smartphone. There is a lot of concern about the effect of using social media and smartphone use on young people’s mental health and self-harm. For example, studies have found that using a phone at night can be associated with poor sleep and changes in mood. Some studies have also found positive effects. For example, social media platforms can provide a space for young people with similar experiences to connect and support each other. Most of the research is using (1) information reported by young people as a one-off, so we cannot look at changes over time, or (2) publicly available posts on social media, so we do not have any information on the person posting. This has meant we do not know enough about how social media and smartphone use may change in association with changes in young people’s mental health and self-harm. Therefore, we need studies that work with young people to collect social media data directly from them and link it with other information they provide.

Who conducted this study?
Professor Rina Dutta is leading the Social media, Smartphone use and Self-harm in Young People (3S-YP) study, with researchers from King’s College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, in partnership with YoungMinds, the leading national youth mental health charity. You can find out more about the work we are doing with YoungMinds here.

The 3S-YP study was sponsored by King’s College London and South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. The study was funded by the Medical Research Foundation and the Medical Research Council. It also received support from the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at SLaM and King’s College London.

What were the main questions studied?
The purpose of the 3S-YP study was to investigate how social media and smartphone use is associated with changes in mental health and self-harm in young people over a period of 6 months. This will help us understand when and what type of support may be useful for young people who are experiencing difficulties. The researchers also wanted to understand how young people felt about taking part in this study as this would be useful for planning future studies.

What public involvement there was in the study?
With support from YoungMinds and mental health services in South-East London, the researchers engaged with young people with experience of mental health difficulties and self-harm to help shape the study. The researchers are continuing to work with Youth Advisors from YoungMinds to plan further analysis and think about how the findings can be shared with the public.

Who participated in the study?
The study took place between June 2021 and June 2023. During this time, 362 young people aged between 13 to 25 years old who have accessed mental health services in South-East London participated in the study. Everyone is different which is why it was important for the researchers to involve young people with a range of experiences.

What happened during the study?
Young people were asked to complete a questionnaire when they joined the study and once a month for 6 months. They either completed the questionnaires using an app installed on their phone (which also collected screentime information) or on a website. Young people were asked to share a copy of their data from their accounts on social media platforms. Anyone can request a copy of their data. It will include things like when and what they have posted on social media. The researchers also collected relevant information from the young people’s mental health records and interviewed some of the young people to learn about their experience of taking part in the study.

What were the results of the study?
The researchers are still analysing the information collected in this study. So far, the researchers have published a report about the information collected at the start of the study. Young people who took part had a mean age of 19 years, were mainly female (62%) and a third identified as Black or from Mixed or Multiple ethnic backgrounds. More than 80% of young people had experienced self-harm at some point in their life and many reported symptoms of anxiety (67%), depression (70%) and difficulties sleeping (47%). Over half used social media and smartphones after midnight on weekdays (67%) and weekends (73%), and met criteria for problematic smartphone use (49%). These results suggest anxiety, depression, self-harm, sleep disturbance and excessive and problematic digital technology are common among young people accessing mental health services. Young people from YoungMinds are helping the researchers think about what they can do with the data from this study and how to share the results with other young people and parents and carers. There are currently several ongoing analyses using the data from the 3S-YP study. All the results will be shared on this website.