Particle Data Platform
The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

What is Social Media Doing to Kids? with Dr. Jean Twenge

3/20/202635 min

Over the past decade, rates of depression and loneliness have surged among young people. Many researchers point to one major change: the rise of smartphones and social media. But what does the data actually show?

Psychologist Jean Twenge has spent years studying how technology shapes adolescent happiness. Dr. Laurie sits down with her to unpack new findings from the 2026 World Happiness Report on how social media use affects teen wellbeing around the world.

What happens when kids spend hours a day on these platforms? Is any amount of social media actually beneficial? And what can we...

Clips

Showing 10 of 12
Fell Off The Cliff
The AI Girlfriend Threat
Quit Social, Feel Better
Global Teen Girls’ Risk
Debunking Safety Phone Myths
Draw The Line On Phones
The Light-Use Sweet Spot
Phone Bans Boost Learning
Yes, You Can Roll Back
The Puzzling Boy Outliers

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Laurie Santos· Host0:00

    [intro music] Pushkin. [upbeat music] Hey, Happiness Lab listeners. Happy International Day of Happiness. The International Day of Happiness is a holiday established by the United Nations as a global day of recognition about the fundamental importance of human happiness. And on this day each year, the United Nations and its partners release The World Happiness Report, their annual snapshot of how happy people are around the globe. The report is also famous for ranking the happiest countries in the world, and this year the happiest country is [drum roll] Finland for the ninth year in a row. So congratulations to Finland and all its lucky inhabitants. For a social science nerd like me, The World Happiness Report is an absolute treat. It brings leading researchers around the world together to dig into the political, social, and economic forces that shape our wellbeing. Each new edition of The World Happiness Report centers around a different theme, and this year's theme feels especially relevant.

  2. Jean Twenge· Guest1:06

    If we're gonna think about psychological wellbeing and happiness in the modern age, we have to look in depth at technology.

  3. Laurie Santos· Host1:14

    This is Dr. Jean Twenge, one of the researchers behind this year's World Happiness Report. Jean is an internationally celebrated psychologist at San Diego State University. Her chapter looks at how young people around the world use and respond to social media. Jean

We value your privacy

We use cookies to understand how you use our platform and to improve your experience. Click "Accept All" to consent, or "Decline non-essential" to opt out of non-essential cookies. Read our Privacy Policy.