A new Norwegian study links teens’ habit of comparing themselves with others on social media to anxiety and depression symptoms, giving families a reason to look beyond the screen-time clock.
“If they’re not feeling better after having been on a particular platform, that’s a good signal that something needs to change,” Peter Etchells, a professor of psychology and science communication at Bath Spa University, told Newsweek.
That shifts the conversation from how long a teenager has been scrolling to what happens while they scroll. Are they connecting with friends, or coming away convinced that everyone else has a better life?
The peer-reviewed study, published Oct. 17 in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, examined 4,011 adolescents at 21 lower secondary schools in southeastern Norway. Their average age was 14, and they completed electronic questionnaires during school hours in autumn 2025.
Researchers examined five patterns: comparing oneself with others, experiencing hostility, showing hostility toward others, passing time and seeking support. They also measured self-reported mental health symptoms, rather than diagnosing teenagers with psychiatric disorders.
Social comparison had particularly strong associations with symptoms of generalized anxiety, social anxiety and major depression in both boys and girls. In the statistical analysis, it accounted for roughly 20% to 26% of the variation in those symptom scores — not a 20% to 26% increase in a teenager’s risk of developing a disorder.
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Experiencing hostility from others also mattered. Passing time and seeking support showed much smaller independent associations, a distinction that argues against treating every online interaction as the same experience.
There is an important limit. This was a snapshot, not a study following teenagers over time. It cannot establish whether comparison contributes to distress, whether distressed teens compare themselves more, or whether other factors help explain the connection.
“What we want to be looking for, over the long term, is convergent evidence — results from lots of different, well-conducted studies that align on the same finding,” Etchells said.
The researchers also caution that findings from one region may not apply across Norway or to other countries. Their largely healthy community sample does not necessarily represent teens with clinically significant mental health conditions.
For parents, a useful place to begin is the feed itself. American Academy of Pediatrics guidance on body image and social media recommends open, nonjudgmental conversations about what children see, challenging the expectation of perfection and creating a family media plan.
That can mean asking which posts leave a child encouraged and which leave them feeling inadequate. Talk through how filters, editing and carefully selected moments can make someone else’s ordinary life look impossibly polished.
The answer is not to dismiss a teenager’s concerns as vanity. Listen first, make room for activities and friendships away from devices, and include adults in the household’s media expectations rather than making the teenager the only person who needs boundaries.
And a phone rule is not a substitute for care. The National Institute of Mental Health advises teens who have felt sad for weeks and struggle to concentrate or enjoy usual activities to talk with a trusted adult and ask a doctor about professional help.
For Christian families, this is also a chance to remind children that their worth does not rise and fall with someone else’s photos or popularity. A healthier conversation can begin with that reassurance — and a parent willing to put down a phone and listen.
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