Overview
- Spain’s Estudes survey measured adolescent social-media use for the first time and found a 17.5% rate of possible problematic use among 14–18-year-olds in Galicia, roughly 21,000 teens if generalized.
- Girls showed higher risk than boys in Galicia, at 18.8% versus 16.2%, according to the Estudes findings.
- Unicef’s nationwide study led by Antonio Rial Boubeta, based on more than 75,000 youths, estimates a 5.7% prevalence, and the researcher warns against overpathologizing and urges methodological caution.
- A government-appointed expert committee links excessive use to anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, academic strain, and body-image issues, and notes that a two-week break can improve wellbeing in non-clinical populations.
- Spain is advancing a minors’ digital-protection law that raises the data-consent age from 14 to 16, and policymakers are debating restricting platform access for under-16s with age verification by platforms proposed.