{"id":2389,"date":"2026-03-19T09:04:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T09:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=2389"},"modified":"2026-03-19T09:04:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T09:04:32","slug":"un-report-warns-social-media-hurting-young-peoples-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=2389","title":{"rendered":"UN Report Warns Social Media Hurting Young People\u2019s Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HELSINKI: A United Nations-backed report released on Thursday has warned that excessive social media use is negatively affecting the wellbeing of young people in several countries, even as Finland retained its position as the world\u2019s happiest nation for the ninth consecutive year.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World Happiness Report highlighted growing concerns about the impact of social media on youth, noting a \u201cdramatic decline\u201d in happiness levels among people under 25 in countries such as United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, particularly among girls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report noted that while social media plays a complex role in shaping wellbeing, heavy usage is generally linked to lower life satisfaction. However, it added that those who completely avoid social platforms may also miss out on certain positive social benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jon Clifton, chief executive of Gallup, said that despite declines in some regions, overall global trends show improvement in youth happiness over the past two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study assessed 147 countries based on factors including income levels, life expectancy, social support, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nordic countries once again dominated the rankings, with Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway joining Finland among the top performers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costa Rica entered the top five for the first time, marking the highest-ever ranking for a Latin American nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the other end of the index, Afghanistan ranked lowest in life satisfaction, amid ongoing conflict and human rights concerns since the return of the Taliban in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finland scored 7.764 out of 10, with experts attributing its consistent ranking to high levels of social trust, low inequality and strong public services, alongside environmental factors such as natural surroundings and quality of life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HELSINKI: A United Nations-backed report released on Thursday has warned that excessive social media use is negatively affecting the wellbeing of young people in several countries, even as Finland retained… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1860,1861,1858,1859,1857],"class_list":["post-2389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-tech","tag-finland","tag-global-happiness-rankings","tag-social-media-impact","tag-world-happiness-report","tag-youth-wellbeing"],"yoast_head":"\nUN Report Warns Social Media Hurting Young People\u2019s Happiness - World Watch Alert<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UN World Happiness Report ranks Finland happiest again, warns heavy social media use is harming youth wellbeing globally.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=2389\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UN Report Warns Social Media Hurting Young People\u2019s Happiness - 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