Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, WhatsApp: social media are part of young people’s daily lives, from secondary school to higher education. They connect, inform and can help with learning. They can also eat into sleep, concentration and self-confidence. Here is what we know about their impact, and how to keep their use helpful to schoolwork.
What is the impact of social media on young people?
Parents ask this question often, and the answer is nuanced. Research finds both positive and negative effects. Everything depends on the time spent, on what the young person actually does there, on the time of day and on their personal situation.
A recent and reliable benchmark comes from the HBSC study, carried out with the World Health Organization among almost 280,000 young people aged 11, 13 and 15 in 44 countries and regions across Europe, Central Asia and Canada. In 2022, 11% of them showed signs of problematic social media use: difficulty controlling their use, with negative consequences for their lives. In 2018, the figure was 7%.
Two nuances matter:
- the vast majority of young people use social media without losing control;
- girls are more affected than boys (13% versus 9% in the same study).
Many studies find a link between heavy use and lower well-being, but the link is often weak. They also struggle to say which way it runs: do social media make some young people more fragile, or do young people who are already struggling turn to them more? Researchers remain divided. Hence the value of looking at each young person rather than at an average.
The benefits of social media for students
Used well, social media offer real help to a pupil or a student:
- Staying connected: keeping in touch with friends, especially after a move, a change of school or starting university.
- Helping each other: a class group lets pupils share a timetable, a forgotten assignment or lecture notes.
- Learning differently: short videos explain a chemistry concept, a grammar rule or a calculation method.
- Finding a community: a young person with an unusual passion, or who feels alone at school, can find people like them.
- Preparing for the future: in higher education, LinkedIn helps students discover careers, find an internship and build a professional network.
The drawbacks of social media at school
Concentration and study time
Apps are designed to hold attention: endless scrolling, videos that play one after another, notifications. A revision session interrupted every five minutes by a message takes real effort to get back into.
Time spent “just for a few minutes” adds up quickly. It is often taken from independent work, the very work that makes the difference in exams.
Sleep
Looking at a screen in bed delays falling asleep. Group chats carry on late into the evening, and the fear of missing out keeps young people checking their phones. A tired pupil remembers less of what they have learned and concentrates less in class.
Comparison and social pressure
Social media show retouched lives: perfect bodies, holidays, successes. In adolescence, the age when young people build their identity, this constant comparison can weigh on self-esteem. The number of likes sometimes becomes a measure of one’s worth.
Cyberbullying
Teasing and rumours that used to start at school now follow young people all the way home, at any hour. A change of mood, sudden withdrawal or a phone that is always hidden can be warning signs.
Smartphones at school: what the rule says
Since the start of the school year on 25 August 2025, a decree of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation has banned the recreational use of smartphones and connected devices in French-speaking nursery, primary and secondary schools. The rule applies in class, at break time and during school trips. Educational use, requested by the teacher, is still allowed.
Each school sets out the practical arrangements in its rules: phone switched off, kept in the bag or left in a designated place. At home, on the other hand, family habits are what count.
Parents: how can you support your teenager?
A total ban rarely works with teenagers. What helps more is a clear framework, discussed together:
- Talk about what they do there, and about more than the time spent: which accounts do they follow, what do they enjoy, what makes them uncomfortable?
- Set phone-free times: during homework, during meals and at night, with the charger outside the bedroom.
- Lead by example: a teenager quickly notices if their parents check their screens at the table.
- Watch for warning signs: tiredness, falling grades, isolation, irritability when the phone is not around.
If the unease goes beyond school, your GP or the school’s PMS centre (the psycho-medical-social guidance service) are good first contacts. And if school itself is the problem, our article My child doesn’t like school may help.
Students: keeping social media in their place
In higher education, nobody monitors your study time any more. A few simple habits protect your concentration:
- work in blocks of 25 to 50 minutes, with your phone in another room or in airplane mode, then take a real break;
- turn off notifications for apps you do not really need;
- use your phone’s built-in screen time tools to see where your hours go;
- keep course groups for mutual help, and leave the ones that distract you without adding anything.
To go further, our 5 tips for studying and passing your exams explain how to organise your study time.
Getting back to a study method that works
When social media have taken up too much room, the hardest part is often getting back into a rhythm. At My Sherpa, an educational adviser chooses a coach suited to the pupil’s or student’s profile. In private lessons, at home anywhere in Belgium or online, the coach helps them plan their work, focus during short, effective sessions and catch up on the subjects that have suffered.
This is exactly the aim of our support in study skills, in secondary school as well as in higher education.
Social media are neither good nor bad in themselves: how they are used makes the difference. With a clear framework and a little method, they can remain a useful tool in student life.
