New findings from Public Health Wales, in partnership with The School Health Research Network at Cardiff University, show that secondary school aged girls have much higher rates of self-reported problematic social media use than boys. Differences were most pronounced in years nine and ten, with one in five girls reporting their own problematic use compared with one in ten boys.

These data come from the 2023 SHRN Student Health and Well-Being (SHW) secondary school survey, one of the largest surveys of school children in Wales. The survey asked young people aged between 11 and 16 whether they have tried to limit their own use of social media and been unable to, whether they can only think of when they will next be able to use these sites, whether they have neglected other activities such as sport and hobbies in order to prioritise social media, or whether it has caused conflict with family or friends. These questions are from an internationally recognised tool, the Social Media Disorder Scale (SMDS*). 

21.0 per cent of girls in year ten and 20.5 per cent of year nine reported the highest rate of problematic social media use, compared to 10.1 and 9.8 per cent of boys respectively.  The overall figure for Wales is 17.9 per cent for girls and 9.7 per cent for boys. 

As well as the difference between genders, there was also a gap between families in differing economic situations.  Girls from low and middle affluence households (using the Family Affluence Scale*) reported scores for problematic social media use at 20.8 and 19.0 per cent respectively, significantly higher than the boys in the same groups who were at 12.1 and 10.3 per cent respectively.