Study warns that TikTok and Instagram affect girls' psychological well-being more than boys'

A recent study by two Catalan universities concluded that the use of TikTok and Instagram has a higher effect on the psychological well-being of girls than boys.  

The study, run by Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), revealed through a survey that young TikTok users value interaction with others, while understanding and accepting social norms.  

However, the study warns this tends to "reduce critical thinking" in adolescents, with one example being gender roles.  

The two authors of the study, Mònika Jiménez (UPF) and Mireia Montaña (UOC), warned of the gender bias in the content on TikTok and the effects it can have on adolescents.  

For example, Jiménez points out that beauty content in the TikTok algorithm, which is usually offered "by default to girls," has a clear impact on their body image or self-esteem.  

Montaña adds that teenage girls have a "more critical and more negative" perception of the impact that social media has on their well-being. She explains that girls are more exposed to the pressure of appearances and external validation.  

In the case of boys, suggested content is "related to sports and competitive games, and content that reinforces the idea of toxic masculinity, with few spaces to show their emotions." 

Study results and impact 

The study was based on a survey of a representative sample of 1,042 Spanish adolescents aged 12 to 18 (50.5% girls and 49.5% boys).  

Some 70.7% of students involved in the survey use TikTok and 63.8% use Instagram.  

Respondents rated the impact of social media on nine aspects of their social life from 1 to 5 (from most negative to most positive).  

The aspects with the lowest ratings, among boys and girls, were psychological well-being and communication with adults.  

While boys gave a score of 3.13 in psychological well-being, girls gave a score of 2.99, a lower rate.  

The highest-scoring items were the ability to organize collectively (with a score of 3.52), sense of belonging to a group (3.51) and the ability to express themselves (3.48).  

In all dimensions of the study, except psychological well-being, there were no significant differences by gender.  

Some other aspects evaluated were the ability to argue and debate, socialization among peers, acceptance of established norms and decision-making.  

The study also concluded that young people consider that the negative effects of using these social networks are "counterbalanced" by the positive ones, causing the impact to be "neutral." 

Another conclusion is that young people perceive the impact of these two platforms on their social life "more positively" when they are users than when they are not.  

The study showed that adolescents have a "very accurate" perception of the effect social networks have on their social and emotional lives. Although, in Montaña's opinion, "there is still room to work on their critical thinking, especially regarding the TikTok algorithm." 

Along the same line, Jimènez concluded that at present there are no studies that determine "to what extent adolescents have tools to grasp and face the consequences of the algorithmic dictatorship." She added that "it is necessary to analyze what their real capacity is to do so and, from there, decide the tools they need."