Instagram has been identified as more harmful to mental well-being than WhatsApp, with new global research pointing to the risks posed by algorithm-led content. The latest World Happiness Report indicates that platforms encouraging endless scrolling tend to be more detrimental than those designed to foster personal interaction.
Researchers also found that excessive use of social media is contributing to declining happiness among younger users, particularly across Western Europe and English-speaking countries.
According to the latest report from the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, Finland has retained its position as the world's happiest country for the ninth year running. Other Nordic states, including Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, continue to dominate the upper ranks.
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Research spanning 17 Latin American countries found that regular use of WhatsApp and Facebook was linked to greater life satisfaction. By contrast, platforms such as X, Instagram and TikTok, where algorithm-driven feeds and influencer material dominate, were associated with lower levels of happiness and poorer mental health.
A separate study covering the Middle East and North Africa reported similar trends, suggesting that visually led, passive platforms were more likely to have negative effects on users.
“It suggests we need to put the social back into social media, and nudge both the providers of these platforms, as well as the users, to leverage these tools for social purposes and connecting with real people,” said Prof Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of the Wellbeing Research Centre and an editor of the report, according to The Guardian.
Findings suggest that spending up to an hour daily on social media can be more beneficial for overall life satisfaction than not using it at all, aside from individuals who lack internet access.
“There's a bit of a Goldilocks proposition here – not too much, not too little. Positive moderate use seems to be optimal,” De Neve said. “But the average social media usage time in the data was not an hour or less, it's more like two-and-a-half hours.”
The study points to intensive social media use as a factor behind falling well-being in young people, disproportionately impacting girls. It attributes this in part to digital offences like sextortion, in which victims are blackmailed over intimate content, as well as widespread cyberbullying and rising mental health challenges.
Drawing on a broad body of academic studies, surveys and supporting evidence, the report identified some positive associations between social media use and wellbeing in regions such as the Middle East and Africa. However, it also noted that excessive use was consistently linked to higher levels of stress and depression.
The latest figures show Finland continuing its dominance as the happiest country in the world for the ninth year in succession, followed by Iceland, Denmark, Costa Rica and Sweden. English-speaking countries remain absent from the top 10 for the second year, with the US and UK placed 23rd and 29th, respectively.
The report, developed with input from Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, revealed significant variations in young people's well-being across different regions, even where social media is widely used.
“If you look at somewhere like Lithuania, youth wellbeing is much higher than, say, the US or the UK, and they obviously have access to all these social media platforms too. So you can't just pinpoint only social media, there's a hell of a lot more going on,” De Neve said
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