Social comparison, not scrolling time, most closely linked to teenagers’ mental health symptoms

A study of more than 4,000 Norwegian teenagers found that comparing themselves with others online was more strongly associated with anxiety and depression symptoms than using social media to pass the time.

Comparing themselves with others on social media is more closely linked to symptoms of anxiety and depression among adolescents than simply using apps to fill time, according to researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

Their study of 4,011 teenagers in south-eastern Norway found that scrolling to avoid boredom was the most common reason for being on social media, but it was only weakly associated with mental health symptoms. By contrast, social comparison, or measuring oneself against other people online, showed a much stronger relationship with anxiety, social anxiety and depression. The findings were published in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health.

The researchers surveyed pupils at 21 schools in autumn 2025, with the average participant aged 14. They examined five aspects of social media use: social comparison, passing time, seeking support, hostility from others and hostility towards others. The teenagers also answered questions about symptoms of depression, generalised anxiety, social anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. The study measured symptoms rather than making diagnoses.

Jonas Raninen, an associate professor at Karolinska Institutet, said the results show why researchers should not treat all social media use as the same. Geir Scott Brunborg, the study’s first author, said the team compared the five behaviours with mental health symptoms while taking account of age and overall time spent online, giving a more detailed picture than studies that focus only on screen time. The researchers said the overall pattern was similar for girls and boys.

The team also found that hostility from others online, such as ridicule, was associated with poorer mental health, although the link was weaker than the one seen for social comparison. They suggested that constant comparison may fuel negative self-thoughts and feelings of missing out, while online hostility may undermine trust and peer relationships. But they stressed that the study cannot show cause and effect because it measured social media use and symptoms at the same point in time, and it relied on self-reported data from one region of Norway.

The findings add to a wider body of research suggesting that the relationship between adolescents and social media is more complicated than time spent online alone. A study in Nature Human Behaviour found that adolescents with mental health conditions tend to use social media more frequently, often for more than three hours a day. Research in the US and Britain has also linked heavier use with poorer mental health, particularly among some groups, including sexual minority teenagers and girls. Other studies have pointed to harassment, sleep disruption, self-esteem and body image as possible pathways.

Brunborg said the next step is to follow the same adolescents over time to see what comes first: whether social comparison contributes to anxiety and low mood, whether those symptoms make young people more likely to compare themselves with others, or whether the relationship runs both ways. The researchers said parents, teachers and health professionals should pay attention not only to how long adolescents spend on social media, but also to what they experience there.