Today’s teenagers may find themselves at a crossroads: They’re more connected via social media than previous generations, but some find themselves feeling lonelier and more depressed than ever.

Social media use has been linked to depression, suicide, self-harm and eating disorders — which is a lot for a generation that is estimated to spend, in total, about 30 years of their lives behind some kind of screen, said Rachel Hanebutt, assistant professor at Georgetown University, at Sunday’s APHA 2025 session “Adolescent/Young Adult Digital Wellness & Mental Health.”

The U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory on the link between social media use and mental health concerns among teenagers brought attention to the issue. Now, two years later, there is enough data from public health interventions to begin examining what approaches to improving teen mental health were useful.

Overall, having teens lead the discussion was the most effective strategy, as Hanebutt found in her research.

Hanebutt wanted to ensure teens felt included in decision-making and that they had agency in their own lives. She worked in conjunction with #HalfTheStory, a nonprofit focused on empowering the next generation to improve its relationship to technology, to launch a national Teen Advisory Board to center teenagers’ expertise and experience in shaping mental health resources, tech policy and societal change.

“It’s really important to reiterate the impact that teens are having and how their ideas are being used. This helps them not only feel, but see, how important their roles are, and it keeps them coming back,” Hanebutt said. “Empowering teens as meeting leaders and partners strengthens the vision of (public health research), as well as the ownership that they have over it.”

The board consisted of a group of teenagers ranging in age from 14 to 19. Diversity of their backgrounds and cultures was also a factor, with 50% of the board being people of color and 38.9% having immigrant backgrounds. In addition, 27.8% were first-generation Americans, and 22.2% were LGBTQ+. Others identified as low-income or neurodivergent. Through ongoing Zoom meetings over three years, the board evolved — what started with the teens giving feedback to researchers became teen-led meetings.

Ultimately, the board developed a digital well-being framework. Teens drove the recruitment, retention and leadership strategies, including peer-referral models and meaningful compensation for research participants, resulting in a unique, flexible, youth-led and youth-sustained model.

Hanebutt described digital well-being as a way to bring health equity to digital spaces, because youth voices can help drive upstream systematic changes. 

As one of the teen advisory board members said, “Being a part of Half the Story’s Teen Advisory Board allowed me to see the intersection of tech, law and social media and truly opened my eyes to the critical need for digital well-being advocacy.”

Taking it to the next level

Having teens create an advisory model and reach out to peers isn’t always enough, especially in states and localities that lack nonprofit support. That’s when public health advocates need to advocate to state governments and encode protections for youth mental health into law.

Melissa Villodas and researchers at George Mason University explored state-level policies on teen mental health and technology that have been enacted across the U.S.

After searching data from Congress.gov in November 2024 using search terms “social media” and “minors” and reviewing existing literature on the topic, the team developed a set of criteria for a policy to be considered in their study.

Of the 178 policies across the U.S., 68 met the consideration criteria, but only eight had been enacted. However, only six are currently enforced, demonstrating room for advancements. Across state lines, most policies, at 61%, originated in a state’s Senate.

Villodas said the proposed policies they gathered were primarily parent-driven, platform-driven and school-driven, but only parent-driven policies like age verification, along with one school-driven policy, have been enforced.

Photo by Pocketlight, courtesy iStockphoto.