The impact of digital technologies on young people’s mental health and well-being is a growing concern for countries across the world. As part of its Mental Health Flagship programme, WHO’s Regional Office for Europe collaborated with DTH-Lab and the Polish Ministry of Health and developed a policy brief setting out priority actions to address the digital determinants of young people’s mental health and well-being. Louise Holly discusses the research behind the policy brief and what it tells us about current national approaches to reduce the risk of digital harm.
The background report Addressing the Digital Determinants of Young People’s Mental Health – Findings from an Evidence Review and Policy Mapping summarizes the rapid evidence review and policy mapping exercise conducted by DTH-Lab for WHO Europe. Our team reviewed over 200 scientific articles published between 2020 and 2024 to assess the current evidence base on the impact of social media and digital technologies on young people’s mental health. In tandem, we carried out a review of policy responses to assess how different countries are trying to address harms associated with digital technology use among young people.
The evidence is inconclusive but the need to act is clear
The evidence review found that extensive research has been conducted on the relationship between young people’s technology use and various negative mental health outcomes – including depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide-related behaviours – and well-being outcomes such as loneliness, low self-esteem and stress. Studies have identified a range of harms that young people are exposed to online, including cyberbullying, harmful content, pressure to obtain an unrealistic or unhealthy physical appearance or lifestyle, sextortion, self-harm and disordered eating triggers, marketing of harmful products and gambling.
While the presence of numerous online risks has been established, technology use carries greater risk for some young people than others. For example, youth with offline vulnerabilities and pre-existing mental health problems disproportionately experience negative impacts of social media and other technology use. Researchers have not found a clear causal relationship between young people’s exposure to online risks and negative impacts on their health and well-being and there are important gaps in the current evidence base. Studies indicate that there are many individual and environmental factors that can shape how technology use influences mental health or well-being outcomes. These need to be explored further. It is also important to note that many studies in the evidence review also highlighted positive associations between technology use and well-being, although these are less studied than negative impacts.
Inconclusive evidence on the causal relationship between technology use and health outcomes is no excuse for inaction. WHO recommends that countries should adopt a precautionary, public health approach to protect young people from potential harms and shift the burden of proof from proving that social media and other digital technologies are harmful to proving that they are safe and contribute to well-being.
Current policies lack public health voices
Our team analyzed more than 40 countries’ policies and regulations. The findings indicated great diversity in national approaches to mitigating the risks of digital technologies across the European region and globally. In many countries, the promoted policy responses placed heavy responsibility on young people and their caregivers, for example setting age restrictions on social media and switching on parental controls. Other initiatives focus on improving digital literacy among young people. More recent policy responses focus on tackling addictive design features and harmful algorithms as well as strengthening regulation of technology companies.
To date, the health sector has played a limited role in shaping digital governance. WHO is now calling on health ministries to ensure they are proactively involved in regulation and oversight of technologies companies going forward. Young people have also been excluded from digital governance processes to date meaningful youth participation and co-creation is proposed as a cross-cutting principle for all of WHO’s priority policy actions.
Putting the evidence into action
The Polish Presidency of the EU and a growing number of countries are recognizing young people’s digital well-being as a public health priority. The new WHO Europe policy brief draws on the evidence review and policy mapping to provide a clear roadmap for policymakers and other stakeholders to promote healthy technology use and mitigate digital harms. As digital technologies become further embedded in young people’s lives it is imperative that policies are in place to ensure they contribute to better health and well-being.
The findings from this exercise were first presented at an expert consultation workshop with European and international experts in February 2025 and also discussed at an international conference “Promotion and Protection of Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in the Digital Era”, held as part of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Louise Holly has more than 20 years’ experience of global policy analysis, research and evidence-based advocacy focused on advancing the health and rights of children, adolescents and youth.
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Louise Holly has more than 20 years’ experience of global policy analysis, research and evidence-based advocacy focused on advancing the health and rights of children, adolescents and youth. Following roles with Save the Children and UNICEF, Louise worked as an independent consultant for several years supporting the Lancet and Financial Times Commission on Governing Health Futures 2030 and other organizations including Transform Health and PMNCH. In July 2023, Louise became the Policy and Research Coordinator at the DTH-Lab where she coordinates the consortium’s knowledge generation, analysis and policy influencing work.
