Launch of the World Happiness Report 2026.

 

Many people blame social media for this fall in happiness, but does this hypothesis stand the test of rigorous scientific analysis?

Chapter 1: Executive summary: happiness and social media
Chapter 2: International evidence on happiness and social media
Chapter 3; Social media is harming adolescents at a scale large enough to cause changes at the population level
Chapter 4; Translating scientific evidence into effective policies for health and technology requires care
Chapter 5: Adolescent life satisfaction and social media use: gender differences in an international dataset
Chapter 6 : Social media, wasting time, and product traps
Chapter 7: Problematic social media use and adolescent wellbeing: the role of family socioeconomic status across 43 countries
Chapter 8: Internet use, social media, and well-being: the role of trust, social connections, and emotional bonds.                                                                                                                                           Chapter 9: Social media use and well-being in the Middle East and North Africa.

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  Read the full World Happiness Report 2026!

In North America and Western Europe, young people are much less happy than 15 years ago. Over the same period, social media use has greatly increased. Many people blame social media for this fall in happiness, but does this hypothesis stand the test of rigorous scientific analysis?

Read the Report

• Chapter 1Executive summary: happiness and social media
• Chapter 2International evidence on happiness and social media
• Chapter 3Social media is harming adolescents at a scale large enough to cause changes at the population level
• Chapter 4Translating scientific evidence into effective policies for health and technology requires care
• Chapter 5Adolescent life satisfaction and social media use: gender differences in an international dataset
• Chapter 6Social media, wasting time, and product traps
• Chapter 7Problematic social media use and adolescent wellbeing: the role of family socioeconomic status across 43 countries
• Chapter 8Internet use, social media, and wellbeing: the role of trust, social connections, and emotional bonds
• Chapter 9Social media use and wellbeing in the Middle East and North Africa