‘Spider-Man’ Tom Holland distances himself from social media:

Tom Holland says in a video he posted on Instagram that he has noticed that social media, especially Instagram and Twitter, is sucking up to him and he ends up in a downward spiral. “When I read things about me online, it pulls me into a whirlpool that destroys my mental health,” it literally sounded. In addition, also puts 4 . sound In Spotlight, a British non-profit organization that works to promote mental health among teens, including through free apps.

Reaction to the ad has been overwhelmingly positive, from his fans as well as from colleagues like Justin Bieber. So he is by no means the first (young) celebrity to highlight this aspect of social media. Holland itself was already taking a break on Instagram at the end of 2019.

There is no scientific consensus

But is there really a connection between social media and mental toughness in young people? The scientific literature regularly contradicts itself on this. It is certainly difficult to prove causation. Two Meta Studies from 2020, who looked at the results of several other studies together, found a negative effect, but it’s so small that it’s almost negligible. It is true that young people who have difficulties offline also often face difficulties online.

On the other hand, Facebook lost its credibility at the end of 2021 when it turned out that it wanted to hide an internal (limited) study on Instagram, which showed that there was a large group of teens who believed that Instagram had a negative impact on their mental health. Facebook protested that it was about the perception of these young people, not about the facts. But when it comes to mental health, this is of course a vague distinction.