The Quiet Amen

Social Media

By the numbers, social media isn’t a phase some teens go through; it’s close to universal. The U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory put social media use among American 13-to-17-year-olds at up to 95%, with more than a third reporting they use it “almost constantly.” Pew’s most recent research (December 2025) found YouTube reaching nearly nine-in-ten American teens, with majorities also on TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, and roughly one-in-five saying they’re on TikTok or YouTube almost constantly.

Canadian data points the same direction, starting even younger, as the next section gets into. Whatever the exact figures are by the time you read this, the direction hasn’t reversed in any wave of this research, in Canada or the U.S.

Age gates don’t do what they appear to do

Most platforms ask for a birth date at signup and little else; a handful use AI-based age inference on top of that. In practice, research, including studies from Australia and international analyses of major platforms, has found these are trivially bypassed: disposable email addresses, a re-entered birth date after a browser refresh, and kids themselves often knowing enforcement is weak and not taking the barrier seriously.

MediaSmarts, Canada’s media literacy centre, has found exactly this gap among Canadian children: in its most recent national survey, 86% of children aged 9 to 11, well under every major platform’s stated minimum age of 13, already had an account on at least one social media platform, and every child in that age group had a YouTube account. There’s also currently no legal requirement for age verification on social media platforms in Canada or the U.S. the way there is for alcohol or tobacco. The practical takeaway: a platform’s stated minimum age (usually 13) is a policy, not a functioning barrier. Treat the decision to let a child join a platform as one you’re making, not one the platform is making for you.

That gap isn’t only about who gets in. One study comparing accounts registered as 13 years old versus 18 found the younger accounts were shown harmful content more often and more quickly during ordinary passive scrolling on YouTube (15% of recommended videos flagged as harmful, versus roughly 8% for the 18-year-old accounts). Content moderation, in other words, is also weaker for the users it’s most meant to protect.

What’s actually at stake

Canada’s Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health raised similar concerns in a June 2026 position paper: problematic social media and device use linked to depression, anxiety, and behavioural problems, along with reduced physical activity, disrupted sleep, and disordered eating, and a measurable decline in youth mental-health indicators as screen time rises.

The U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory went further and named a specific age: 13, the point at which most children first join these platforms, is, in that advisory’s own words, too young for most children to be ready. Canadian health authorities haven’t put a specific age on it themselves, at least not yet, but the underlying concerns line up closely on both sides of the border.

Signs worth paying attention to

These aren’t diagnostic and every child is different, but they’re worth noticing as a pattern rather than a single bad day:

  • Mood visibly rising and falling with likes, comments, or being tagged (or not)
  • Withdrawing from in-person friendships or activities they used to enjoy
  • Sleep consistently disrupted by phone use at night
  • Secrecy about accounts, or maintaining accounts you don’t know about
  • Difficulty stopping even when they say they want to, or distress when access is removed

What actually helps, in practice

  • Decide the age of first account together, deliberately, rather than defaulting to “whenever their friends got one.” The platform’s stated minimum is a floor, not a recommendation suited to your child.
  • Know what you’re agreeing to before they join: what the platform does with a minor’s data, what its actual (not marketed) moderation looks like, whether direct messages from strangers are possible by default.
  • Stay an active co-user, not a silent monitor. Following, being followed, and occasionally scrolling together does more for judgment-forming than software ever will.
  • Revisit the decision. What’s appropriate at 13 isn’t fixed forever, in either direction, more or less freedom, as your child demonstrates judgment.

AI companion and chatbot features are increasingly built into these same platforms; the next page picks that up specifically, since it raises questions distinct enough from ordinary social media use to warrant its own treatment.

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