Social media lowering satisfaction
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Social media appears to be eroding life satisfaction among Australian high school students.
New data from Australia’s largest study of young people has revealed that social media use is having a detrimental effect on the life satisfaction of high school students, particularly non-binary teens.
The study provides insights into the social, emotional, and educational challenges facing Australian youth as they move towards adulthood.
The GENERATION study, launched in 2022 and set to run for a decade, examines the experiences of over 3,500 students from nearly 300 schools across Australia.
This latest round of data covers Year 10 and 11 students, with a key focus on the effects of social media use.
The findings indicate that non-binary students who regularly engage with social media platforms experience the lowest levels of life satisfaction.
“The mean life satisfaction score was 6.21 out of 10, with males having the highest levels of life satisfaction with a score of 6.5, while young people who identified as non-binary reported the lowest levels of life satisfaction with a score of 5.2 out of 10,” says lead researcher Professor Ben Edwards.
Social media use appears to contribute to this decline in life satisfaction.
“While we know that young people face many challenges that could impact their life satisfaction, we found that the use of many of the mainstream social media platforms was associated with poorer life satisfaction,” he said.
The study found that students using TikTok, Reddit, and Twitch reported lower life satisfaction compared to their peers who did not engage with these platforms.
Discord, a platform often associated with gaming communities, was linked to the lowest life satisfaction for male students, while TikTok had the most negative impact on female students.
Interestingly, Twitter/X was the only platform where non-binary students reported higher life satisfaction; a contrast to the broader negative impact associated with social media.
Additionally, Facebook users of all genders reported higher levels of satisfaction than their non-user counterparts.
Nearly all students surveyed, 98 per cent, reported using at least one social media platform regularly, with 18 per cent posting or sharing content daily.
Beyond social media, the GENERATION study explored the post-school aspirations of students.
“Our study shows that almost one-in-ten young people have raised their university aspirations and are now aiming to go to university now they are in Year 11 compared to when they were in Year 10,” said Jessica Arnup, research fellow at ANU.
However, 12 per cent of students lost interest in pursuing tertiary education as they progressed from Year 10 to Year 11.
Factors such as disability, disadvantaged backgrounds, or parents who did not attend university were identified as barriers to pursuing higher education.
Additionally, the study found that around 20,000 15-year-olds expressed an interest in joining the Australian Defence Force (ADF), with male students making up the majority at 57 per cent. Only two per cent of non-binary students indicated interest in the ADF.
The GENERATION study is funded by Australian federal and state governments, tracking the experiences and development of the same cohort of students until they reach the age of 25.