Study: Social media leads to decline in mental health among the Arab youth

Seven out of 10 young Arabs are struggling to disconnect from social media and six out of 10 Arab youth agree that social media addiction negatively impacts their mental health. An overwhelming 92% believe big tech companies hold sway over them and are not doing enough to tackle fake news.

These are the key findings in the 15th annual Asda'a BCW Arab Youth Survey under the theme 'My Lifestyle', released in partnership with the new digital media hub blinx.

Highlights

• The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has among the highest levels of per capita adoption of social media networks globally.
• 74% of young Arabs said they are struggling to disconnect from social media.
• 61% agreed that social media addiction negatively impacts their mental health.
• 13% of Arab youth said they would rather be famous as "a social media influencer" than choose from over 30 options, including careers in industry, education, business, healthcare, tourism, and others.
• In the GCC, technology, engineering, and culinary arts were named as the top three choices (10% each), while 17% of youth in North African nations seek fame as social media influencers, followed by 15% naming charity work and 12% wanting to explore culinary arts. In the Levantine nations, the top preference is for technology and culinary arts (13% each), followed by 12% wanting to achieve fame as influencers.
• Asked which social channels are most important to them, 18% of the respondents said Facebook, followed by Instagram (17%), WhatsApp (16%), YouTube (13%), TikTok (12%), Snapchat (11%), X/Twitter (8%) and LinkedIn (4%).
• Saudi Arabia is the biggest user of YouTube worldwide, where 68% of the users consume more video digitally than on TV. The top 5 countries by reach for TikTok are in MENA (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Iraq), while Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt are among the Top 15 largest national markets for Snapchat.
• 61% of the respondents said they get their news from social media, but this is a significant drop from 2019 when almost 80% of young Arabs surveyed said they get their news from social channels. Television continues to be the second most preferred source of news - named by nearly half of young Arabs (45%).

The survey has also found that social media companies need to do more to stop disinformation on their sites.

On the record

"The lifestyles of the region's youth are increasingly defined by their social media addiction, and even when they agree they struggle to disconnect, many favor seeking fame by choosing to be social media influencers," explained Sunil John, president, Mena, BCW and founder of Asda'a BCW.

"The youth being digital-savvy is an asset for any nation," he added. "But their mental well-being must be given top priority by encouraging them to live a fuller social life in the real world."

About the survey

The youth survey covered five Gulf Cooperation Council states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE), North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and South Sudan - newly added this year), and the Levant region (Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Syria) and Yemen.

Asda'a BCW commissioned SixthFactor Consulting to conduct face-to-face interviews with 3,600 Arab citizens aged 18 to 24 in 53 cities across 18 Arab states.