Heavy social‑media use raises teen depression risk

New multi‑method evidence — long‑run cohort trends, large surveys (Pew), and recent experiments — points to a substantive, probably causal relationship between concentrated social‑media/smartphone use and rising depression among adolescents, especially girls. The pattern centers on a 2012 inflection: in the years since, in‑person socializing and sleep have fallen as daily social‑media use surged, creating a plausible mechanism for worse mental health. — If confirmed, this shifts the debate from abstract worries to concrete public‑health and education policies (age gates, platform design rules, school sleep interventions) that could reduce harms.