Does heavy social media use damage your family's relationship?

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The positive (and slightly surprising) news is that while social media may not be the most meaningful way to spend your time, it is not necessarily harmful to family life. Both teenagers and adults spend several hours a day on social media, and many worry that this comes at the expense of family relationships. "We found no evidence that either adolescents' or parents' use of social media is associated with poorer family relationships, reduced family functioning or weaker parent-child attachment over time," says Habib Niyaraq Nobakht, a postdoctoral researcher at NTNU's Department of Psychology.

The work is published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Does spending less time on screens and experiencing fewer digital distractions actually lead to stronger family relationships? Several previous studies have attempted to answer this question, but many have had significant methodological limitations.

For example, they have often failed to distinguish between stable family dynamics and changes that can occur within families over time. Many studies have also relied on the experience of only one family member, which can produce a skewed picture of family dynamics. This new research from NTNU, conducted by Nobakht and professors Lars Wichstrøm and Silje Steinsbekk, took a more comprehensive approach.

The researchers analyzed data from the long-running Tidlig Trygg i Trondheim (Trondheim Early Secure) Study, which has followed the development of nearly 1,000 children, all born between 2003 and 2004. Social media use was assessed every other year from age 10 until participants turned 20. The sample included a roughly equal number of boys and girls.

"We measured how often the adolescents checked social media, how actively they used it, and how much time they spent on it, using both interviews and objective data collected from their phones," says Steinsbekk. Parents were also included in the recent research. Their social media use was assessed through questionnaires, including whether they considered their own use to be problematic.