Untersuchungen mit mehr als 3.000 jungen Menschen ergaben, dass eine geringe bis durchschnittliche Nutzung sozialer Medien (2 Stunden/Tag oder weniger) im Alter von 11 und 14 Jahren keinen starken Einfluss auf psychische Erkrankungen drei Jahre später hat, einschließlich Depressionen und Angstzuständen, Selbstverletzung und Selbstmordversuchen

>Researchers used a technique to address some of these complexities, adjusting data to consider factors such as earlier childhood mental health and family and peer relationships.
>
>Experts used survey data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, which follows young people born between 2000 and 2002 across the UK, to analyse their self-reported social media use at ages 11 and 14.
>
>Parents and the young people themselves provided information on emotional issues and self-harm at ages 14 and 17. Suicide attempt data from participants was collected at age 17.
>
>**Testing associations**
>
>The findings showed no significant associations between using messaging or visiting social networking websites on most days at age 11 and emotional health issues, such as depression and anxiety or self-harm, at age 14.
>
>Similarly, no significant links were found between using social media for two or more hours a day at age 14 and mental health problems and self-harm at age 17.
>
>However, when looking at heavy social media use – defined in the study as two or more hours a day – the study found that spending more time on social media at age 14 was linked to a small but notable increase – about three per cent – of suicide attempts by age 17.
>
>Even small increases matter, as suicide attempts are always serious, the researchers say.
>
>**Frequency of social media**
>
>The findings add to previous studies which suggested there is no substantial link between the length of time and frequency of social media use and adolescent mental health, researchers say.

[The association between social media use and mental health symptoms in middle adolescence: A counterfactual analysis – ScienceDirect](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666560325001951#sec2)

So politicians are lying when they claim they want to impose id checks and isolate teens to protect the children? 

I dont know a single teen who uses their phone less than 2 hours. Most of them are easily in the 6 to 10 hours range.
But i guess nice to know that less than 2 hours are apparently not harmful.

This is hardly surprising because with mental health what matters, often, is not a behaviour in isolation but whether it is leading to something pathological and systemically disordered within an individual.

The context is key. As is the intensity.

Two people could have the same value for a single metric like average hours of social media use, but can have very differing outcomes.

Let’s say, six hours of social media use per day. One teen could have a very active local social circle, or a healthy online circle, and the use could be merely one component in a diverse and engaging lifestyle. Another could be in a very dark place, amplified by online spaces that provide validation to hateful, conspiratorial, or nihilistic patterns.

Detecting people in psychological danger is not a problem with only one input variable.