Social media and adolescent well-being in the Global South

Abstract

Despite the rapid proliferation of digital technologies in the Global South, most academic research on social media and adolescent well-being has primarily focused on the Global North. This review investigates how social media impacts adolescent well-being in the Global South. We first review five regions (Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East & North Africa, Latin America, China and South & South-East Asia) to highlight the complex ways social media interacts with well-being around the world. We then outline research gaps in the current understanding of the impacts of social media use on adolescent populations in diverse cultural contexts. We finally highlight potential lines of inquiry that future researchers could explore to build a nuanced, contextual perspective of the risks and opportunities of social media use.

Keywords: Adolescent well-being; Cross-cultural psychology; Global South; Social media.