This review explores the relationship between social media use and the development of anxiety and depression among youth. A search of the Medline database yielded 77 relevant articles. Results suggest an association between specific social media engagement patterns (passive use, multitasking, appearance-based activities, nighttime consumption, disaster awareness, cyberbullying, sexting, and problematic social media use) and poor mental health outcomes. The review emphasizes the need for physicians and parents to address social media exposure and calls for further research to establish causality.
