Social Media Concerns for Parents

Social media has become central to how many young people spend their time. Many platforms are built to capture attention through design features and reward-driven interactions, making it harder for families to set boundaries or monitor what children see.

As a result, parenting and social media often require navigating unfamiliar risks involving mental health, privacy and device habits.

According to the Teens, Social Media and AI Chatbots 2025 report from the Pew Research Center, using social media is a daily part of life for an overwhelming majority of American teens. But the overarching impacts are not always helpful or fun.

Surveyed teens were asked to discuss how often they use apps, what apps they use and how difficult it would be to stop. Highlights of the surveys include:

• Daily use: YouTube still has the most daily use among teens, with more than 75% of teens saying they use the platform every day. More than 60% said they use TikTok daily.
• Constant use: Over a third of teens reported using at least one of five platforms (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook) “almost constantly.” TikTok is the only platform to show much growth in the “constant use” category over the past three years, rising from 16% to 21% of teens.

The daily, constant screen time and use of these platforms has many parents concerned about the number of young people who may be addicted to social media.

Many families deal with how social media affects parenting as a constant part of their daily routine. Parents pay close attention to mood changes, sleep patterns, school performance and social stress that may connect to online activity.

Increased screen time

Social media apps are designed to keep people using the platform. For minors, endless feeds, notifications and other reward systems can increase use. Excessive screen time may affect sleep, school performance and emotional regulation.

Algorithms and harmful content

Platform algorithms are engineered to optimize interaction and retention, not user safety. By promoting long strands of engaging videos with no breaks, the platform may directly contribute to the distress and mental health deterioration of minor users, rather than protect them from it.

Inadequate age verification

Despite published community standards, many platforms have inadequate age verification and restriction protocols. This inadequacy can allow young children to access social media and develop unhealthy dependencies on it.

There are definite pros and cons of parents monitoring social media. Trying to balance supervision with respect for a child’s growing independence can feel like a tightrope walk. Monitoring can help identify risks early, but each family approaches oversight differently depending on age, maturity and online habits.

Monitoring may help parents:

• Identify unsafe activities before they escalate
• Verify that viewing habits align with age-appropriate expectations
• Support routines that reduce late-night use and improve sleep

Seeing real examples of online interactions can help families teach children about privacy, digital footprints, and respectful behavior. There are also broader effects of social media on parents, such as managing device conflicts or addressing repeated emotional fallout from online interactions. The pros and cons of parents monitoring social media, though, remain.

Parents and many others are looking to hold social media companies accountable for the dangers young people face from social media, including school districts and state attorneys general. These parties impacted by social media harms are filing lawsuits against the major companies, including:

• ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok
• Google, the parent company of YouTube
• Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram
• Snap, the parent company of Snapchat

The litigation against Meta is currently the most prominent. These lawsuits accuse the company of tolerating or failing to remove content involving sexual exploitation, child trafficking or adult-minor interactions despite internal awareness.

The company is also accused of ignoring proposed safety changes (like reducing problematic use or limiting youth targeting) because they might reduce user engagement or advertising revenue. Documents show that internal company studies on harm to the mental health of youth were allegedly suppressed or buried.

The volume of cases continues to grow, including claims based on child-safety, grooming, mental health, self-harm exposure and content-based harms, not just addiction. Motley Rice is involved in current multidistrict litigation (MDL), In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3047. In 2022, Motley Rice attorney Previn Warren was appointed as co-lead counsel for the social media harm MDL.

Public schools echo parents’ concerns about social media

Public schools have also felt the mental health impact of social media on kids and teens. Some of the school districts filing lawsuits against social media platforms include:

• Charleston County School District (represented by Motley Rice)
• Fayetteville School District (represented by Motley Rice)
• Milwaukee Public School District (not represented by Motley Rice)

Motley Rice is proud to stand with victims of social media harms and their families. Our attorneys have worked for decades fighting for families and organizations across the country, including representing those who are suing tech companies because of harm they’ve suffered.

Parents or guardians can file a lawsuit against social media companies on behalf of their minor children who suffered diagnosed mental health harms such as ADHD, suicidal ideation, eating disorders and depression requiring hospitalization. Young adults (between the ages of 18 and 25 depending on the jurisdiction where they live) can also file a lawsuit if they were minors when their trauma was diagnosed or treated.

Read more about filing a social media lawsuit.