Psychology of Young People and Social Media

This important book provides a comprehensive walkthrough of the impacts of social media on the lives and psychological health of children and young people. It considers the role played by individual differences and especially personality factors in shaping social media behaviour and responses to specific types of illegal or potentially harmful content. The book discusses young people’s actions on social media and the resulting psychological effects, such as developing an over-dependence on social media sites, disclosing information about themselves that makes them vulnerable to many different risks, and being pulled away from their everyday lives, which can result in social withdrawal, impaired cognitive development and mental health issues. This book also examines the challenges to governments and communications regulators in developing effective laws, regulations and codes of practice to protect young people and place greater responsibility on the technology companies that provide the platforms for social media sites. It also considers the roles that can be played by parents and schools in supporting regulators in the protection of the youngest social media consumers. Drawing up and reviewing the latest research evidence from around the world, this text is essential reading for students, researchers, and academics in psychology and media fields.

Barrie Gunter is Emeritus Professor in Media at the University of Leicester (Department of Communication, Media and Sociology). He has written/co-written and edited/co-edited around 80 books and over 500 book chapters, learned journal papers, newspaper and magazine articles, and technical reports across his career. Most of his work centers on studies of the conventional mass media and new digital communications and media outputs. His recent books for Routledge include The Psychology of the Selfie (2022), a four-volume series about the psychology of the COVID-19 pandemic (2022 and 2023), The Psychology of Binge Watching TV (Routledge, 2024), The BBC and The Public (2025, Palgrave Macmillan) and the forthcoming The Psychology of Public Belief in Unexplained Phenomena: Close Encounters, Extraterrestrials and UFOs (Routledge, 2026).