Study links early social media use to lower grades years later

Children who open social media accounts at age 11 or 12 perform measurably worse in school four years later, according to a study published Monday in Nature Human Behaviour by researchers at the University of Milano-Bicocca.gizmodo+1

The longitudinal study, which tracked more than 5,000 Italian students, found that those who created social media accounts in the sixth grade — when they were 11 to 12 years old — scored lower on standardized math and Italian language exams in the tenth grade compared to peers who joined social media later. The academic gap was roughly equivalent to six months of schooling.nature+1

Key Findings

The researchers selected students who performed equally well in fifth grade and had no social media accounts at that time. Students who joined platforms in the seventh grade also showed "smaller but still meaningful" declines, while those who waited until the eighth grade showed negligible effects. The probability of repeating a grade was higher for students who opened accounts in the sixth or seventh grade.gizmodo

Notably, the negative effects compounded over time. Students who joined social media in sixth grade fell further behind their peers in math by eighth grade and even further by tenth grade — even though by that point nearly all students were on social media.nature+1

One unexpected finding: the grade drops in Italian and math did not extend to English-language performance. The researchers theorize that because much online content is in English, social media may have provided informal language practice for students learning it as a second language.gizmodo

Policy Implications

The findings arrive as governments worldwide tighten restrictions on children's social media access. Australia enacted its ban on social media for users under 16 last December, though enforcement has proven difficult — a compliance report found that more than half of 12- to 15-year-olds still had active accounts by April. France became the first EU member state to ban social media for those under 15, and the United Kingdom has enacted similar restrictions for under-16s.mediamax+1

In the United States, Meta ↘ 0.39% faces lawsuits from multiple states seeking $1.4 trillion in damages over claims that platforms like Instagram and Facebook were deliberately designed to be addictive to young users.gizmodo+1

The study's authors urged caution in interpreting the results, noting that it remains unclear whether harmful content or simply time spent on platforms drives the academic decline. "Given the sensitivity of the topic and the intense, polarized debate that has emerged in recent years, these findings must be interpreted with the utmost care and responsibility," the researchers wrote.gizmodo