Longitudinal effect of early social media use on standardized learning outcomes during school career

This study employs Difference-in-Differences models to evaluate the impact of early social media use - experienced through a personal smartphone - on academic performance among children aged 7 to 16. A unique dataset comprising 5,227 students from northern Italy was constructed by merging data from a specially designed questionnaire on lifetime digital media habits with longitudinal standardized test scores in Italian, English and mathematics. Participants who created a personal social media account in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade were separately matched with late adopters who initiated their first social media account in the 9th grade or later. The findings provide compelling evidence that early engagement with social media adversely affects learning outcomes. Additional evidence of the effects of early social media use on other academic outcomes for which we lack a longitudinal component (school marks, grade repetitions, track enrolment and self-efficacy) is in line with our main findings. We also find supporting evidence that a substantial part of this negative effect is mediated by students’ smartphone pervasiveness in key moments of the day. These results hold significant implications for educators, policymakers and parents, and for the ongoing debate on children's exposure to social media and its consequences for their well-functioning.