Mark Zuckerberg: Social Media Is Not Related To Youth Mental Health

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (photo: X @ Facebook)

JAKARTA - In the midst of the high use of social media, many argue that digital platforms are endangering the mental health of teenagers. However, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a different view.

Quoting from The Verge's report, the Facebook founder believes that social media has no 'causes and consequences' relationship with mental health problems, especially in teenagers. Zuckerberg also touched on the research he found.

"High-quality research out there shows that there is no causal relationship on a broad scale between these things," Zuckerberg said. "Academic research shows something I think is more in line with what I see about how the platform works."

Although not a few studies have stated that social media is not the cause of teens' mental health problems, many still think otherwise. To take the best path, Meta tries to take steps that can prevent bad effects.

Zuckerberg explained that some platforms under his auspices, such as Instagram and Facebook, have provided parental control tools. This feature is considered as a way to limit excessive use of social media to children.

"You can play a role in trying to make things better, even if it wasn't caused by you from the start.... I think we can play a role in giving parents control over apps," Zuckerberg said.

The most important thing is that parental control can be adjusted to the parenting habits or methods of parents. This feature becomes very important because parents have different ways of raising their children.

Parental control has also been adjusted to government directives and child safety laws that will be implemented in the US. This feature, and some other restrictions for teens, can answer the government's concerns in addressing teens' mental health problems.