Digital Life and Adolescent Mental Health: What Does the Data Show?

Press Release

CAMHI's new report brings together international evidence, Greek data, and adolescents' own experiences.

As the new school year begins, the conversation around the impact of digital life on adolescent mental health is once again at the forefront of public discussion. How strongly do teenagers feel that social media affects them? What risks are supported by scientific evidence, and what opportunities can the digital environment offer? Which interventions appear to be effective? And what do adolescents themselves have to say?

These are among the questions explored in the new report, Growing Up Digital: An Evidence-to-Policy Synthesis, developed by the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Initiative (CAMHI) in collaboration with the Child Mind Institute in New York, with the exclusive support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) as part of its Global Health Initiative (GHI).

The report brings together international scientific evidence, data from Greece, and the firsthand experiences of adolescents across the country. It draws on an analysis of 32 international documents published between 2017 and 2026, 1,099 individual evidence-based claims and 635 policy recommendations, and maps both the areas where international consensus exists and those where uncertainty remains.

In a world where smartphones, apps, social media, video games, and other digital technologies have become an integral part of adolescents' daily lives, research shows that their use can increase exposure to well-established mental health risk factors. Studies have identified associations between heavy or problematic use and outcomes such as depression, anxiety, loneliness, and sleep problems. The relationship, however, is complex and bidirectional: negative online experiences can intensify psychological distress, while adolescents already experiencing emotional difficulties may be more likely to develop problematic patterns of digital media use.

The evidence shows that time spent online matters, particularly when digital media use crowds out sleep, physical activity, relationships, and other experiences that are essential to healthy development. Just as important, however, is what content adolescents encounter, how they are treated in digital spaces, why and under what circumstances they use these platforms, and what that use adds to or takes away from their daily lives. The clearest concerns identified in the research involve cyberbullying and harassment, exposure to harmful content, social comparison, difficult-to-control use, and sleep disruption.

Available data from Greece reflect adolescents' growing digital presence: daily internet use among secondary school students rose from 77% in 2019 to 86% in 2025, while 61% reported having been exposed to harmful or inappropriate content, usually unintentionally. Meanwhile, problematic social media use among 15- and 16-year-olds increased from 36.1% in 2015 to 48% in 2024.

These risks do not affect all young people equally. Older adolescents, girls, and those already experiencing anxiety, depression, or other difficulties appear to be more vulnerable. At the same time, the digital environment can offer meaningful opportunities for connection and support, particularly for young people who are socially isolated, live in remote areas, or belong to marginalized groups.

Ιn Adolescents’ Own Words

Discussions with 85 adolescents aged 13 to 17 from five Greek cities highlighted both the benefits of digital life, such as maintaining social relationships, participating in communities, and accessing information, and the challenges associated with it. The adolescents themselves recognized the need for protection and guidance, especially for younger children, while expressing skepticism about blanket restrictions that can easily be circumvented or fail to address the underlying causes of these challenges. They placed particular emphasis on digital literacy, meaningful dialogue, supportive family relationships, and the creation of opportunities for offline social interaction, physical activity, and participation.

A Foundation for Evidence-Based Dialogue

The report does not seek to offer easy or definitive answers. Instead, it maps what we know, where the evidence is still evolving, and where knowledge gaps remain. Uncertainty, however, is no excuse for inaction: the evidence already available can help guide interventions aimed at making the digital environment safer and protecting adolescent mental health.

Interventions appear most likely to succeed when they target specific risk mechanisms, such as cyberbullying, exposure to harmful content, and sleep disruption, alongside promoting systematic digital literacy education, guidance for families and schools, stronger mental health services, and greater accountability on the part of digital platforms. Restrictions on phone use in schools appear to help reduce distraction when consistently applied, while age limits for social media access remain another area of intervention where the evidence base continues to evolve. Over the longer term, effectively protecting adolescents will likely require a combination of interventions that can adapt to the rapid evolution of the digital environment, are systematically evaluated and refined in practice, and take adolescents’ own experiences and perspectives into account.

• You can read the full report here and the executive summary of the report here
  
• You can explore eight concise, evidence-based guides offering parents practical advice on children's and adolescents' digital media use, here
  
• You can listen to the podcasts created by the Youth Advisory Groups of the YES Programme, "Growing Up in a Digital World" (in GR) here
  
  

The Child & Adolescent Mental Health Initiative's program is designed and implemented by a nationwide network of public-sector mental health bodies and professionals, in partnership with the Child Mind Institute (New York), and with the support of the Hellenic Ministry of Health.

The Child & Adolescent Mental Health Initiative is supported exclusively by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), as part of its Global Health Initiative (GHI).