Early Social Media Use Linked to Lower School Performance in Children

Children who open social media accounts around the age of 11 or 12 perform worse on math and reading tests compared to their peers who delay joining social media, a study has found. The research, which analyzed data from over 5,000 Italian students, suggests that by age 16, the academic gap between these groups is equivalent to about six months of schooling.

Researchers from the University of Milano-Bicocca, led by Dr. Marko Gvi, controlled for various factors that could influence academic results, such as prior school performance, family structure, and parental education. Despite these controls, the negative correlation between early social media use and test scores persisted. The study highlights that the issue is complex and potentially linked to the design of social media platforms themselves.

While the negative impact was observed in math and Italian language tests, it was not evident in English, which students learn as a foreign language. The researchers theorize this might be due to incidental exposure to English through social media content. A key indicator of the performance difference was how often children checked their phones, suggesting that the constant need to monitor online activity is a significant factor in the poorer academic outcomes.

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I think we now know that there is a problem and it is a complex problem, related to the way these platforms are built. Our research shows that, at least during the period of pre-adolescence, these social networks are problematic.