I always appreciate when a panel of researchers comes together to share a consensus statement that summarizes deeply researched opinion. This happened in May 2025 on the impact of smartphones and social media on kids. Here was their consensus statement:
To clarify expert opinion, we convened over 120 international researchers from 11 disciplines, representing a broad range of views. Using a Delphi method, the panel evaluated 26 claims covering international trends in adolescent mental health, causal links to smartphones and social media, and policy recommendations. The experts suggested 1,400 references and produced a consensus statement for each claim.
The following conclusions were rated as accurate or somewhat accurate by 92–97% of respondents:
First, adolescent mental health has declined in several Western countries over the past 20 years.
Second, heavy smartphone and social media use can cause sleep problems.
Third, smartphone and social media use correlate with attention problems and behavioural addiction.
Fourth, among girls, social media use may be associated with body dissatisfaction, perfectionism, exposure to mental disorders, and risk of sexual harassment and predation.
Fifth, evidence on social deprivation and relational aggression is limited.
Sixth, the evidence for policies like age restrictions and school bans is preliminary.
Overall, the results of this deliberative process and the set of concrete recommendations provided can help guide future research and evidence-informed policy on adolescent technology use.
There are moments when I wonder if we ever needed such a statement. Having experienced the impact mobile phones and social media have had on my life, it is easy to imagine the tumult it can cause in the mind of an impressionable kid.
But I also recognize my view isn’t the mainstream view.
I’m convinced we’ll look back at this time just as we look at cigarette-filled media from the 1980s and wonder how no one came to the conclusion that the smoke would destroy our lungs.
Until then, we need these statements to be read out on speakerphones all over the world.
