Key Points
Research reveals a more nuanced picture when it comes to teenagers, social media and anxiety..
A recent paper has found that FOMO or fear of missing out is linked to whether teens find using social media increases their anxiety or relieves it..
A large portion of life is now online, so parents and teens need to make decisions about how many devices they should have, what rules should surround them in the home, which devices should host social media and which apps should be used..
By contrast, students who said they weren't affected by FOMO 54 per cent of respondents showed stronger anxiety symptoms if they used social media less..
These limitations could leave gaps in studies, like the influential research on the relationship between mental health and technology that asked participants to exclude time spent interacting with friends and family online when they rated how often they used social media..
