The World Happiness Report, published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford in partnership with Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, turned its 2026 edition to one of the most contested questions in social science: what social media is doing to young people's wellbeing. Gallup World Poll data show life evaluations among under-25s in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand falling by almost one point on a ten-point scale over the past decade, even as the global average for the young rose.
An international survey of 15-year-olds across nearly 50 countries found heavy social media use associated, on average, with a significant drop in wellbeing, but the effect depended heavily on the platform, how it was used, gender and socio-economic status. Intriguingly, young people using social media for under an hour a day reported higher wellbeing than those who abstained entirely, while adolescents are estimated to average two and a half hours daily.
The report's contributors, who include prominent researchers of generational change and behavioural science, stress that social connection and a sense of belonging are associated with far larger differences in wellbeing than screen time alone. The evidence lands at a moment when many governments are legislating protections for under-16s online, and the report's framing, putting the social back into social media, offers policymakers a more precise target than blanket restriction.