Teens Spending 8 Hours a Day on Screens: Tech Platforms Neglect Teens’ Emotional Health, New Report Finds

July 14, 2025

New white paper from the Ruderman Family Foundation warns youth wellbeing is at risk and urges tech platforms to better support emotional and social development.

BOSTON, MA, July 14, 2025 — While teens spend an average of eight hours a day online, most digital platforms fail to support their emotional and social development—a major missed opportunity, according to a new white paper commissioned by the Ruderman Family Foundation and conducted by researchers at the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital and Education Development Center (EDC).

The project, “Leveraging Interactive Media to Foster Social-Emotional Learning in Youth,” highlights a growing gap between where young people spend their time and where they learn and develop essential life skills. While social-emotional learning (SEL) is widely recognized for improving academic outcomes, mental health, and long-term success, most current SEL initiatives remain confined to classroom settings that are often overstretched and under-resourced. This misalignment is largely recognized by technology leaders from major digital platforms, but today’s digital environments largely fail to integrate that promise into their design.

“Today’s youth are spending the majority of their waking hours in digital spaces, yet these platforms are missing a critical opportunity to support their emotional and social development,” said Jay Ruderman, President of the Ruderman Family Foundation. “We have the knowledge and technology to design digital environments that foster empathy, self-awareness, and healthy relationships—now we need to challenge the industry to step up and recognize their role in shaping youth development.”

The report draws on insights from an extensive group of subject matter experts, educators, technology executives, influencers and youth. Using a rigorous qualitative methodology, the researchers found “cautious enthusiasm” across sectors about the potential for digital platforms to support SEL—but also a clear consensus that few platforms currently aim or are designed to do so intentionally.

Among the project’s most significant findings:

• Tech leaders see the value of SEL and the power of digital media to scale access—but few platforms are intentionally designed to support it.
• Meeting teens where they are—online—can foster empathy, collaboration, and self-awareness when platforms are purposefully built for SEL.
• Emerging tools like generative AI offer new ways to model healthy behaviors, provide feedback, and support real-time emotional learning.

Additional insights from the project underscore that while teens are highly active on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and gaming apps, few digital products are purposefully designed to promote SEL. Technology offers low-risk opportunities to practice real-world skills like conflict resolution and teamwork, yet these remain underutilized. Youth participants expressed interest in more meaningful screen break prompts—ones that offer tangible suggestions for offline activities instead of easy-to-ignore reminders. Educators emphasized that digital tools should support—not replace—the in-person relationships and learning experiences that remain central to SEL development.

The report outlines several recommendations for how digital platforms—especially social media, gaming, and streaming services—can be designed more intentionally to support SEL. It encourages integration of community-building tools like peer mentorship systems and relationship dashboards, and the use of gamification to reward collaboration over competition. Storytelling features and designated “calming spaces” can help support emotional regulation, while AI tools can offer personalized practice in navigating complex social dynamics. The white paper also recommends age-appropriate versions of existing platforms—similar to YouTube Kids or Netflix Kids—to protect younger users from inappropriate content while providing safe environments for SEL development.

To unlock this potential, the findings emphasize that robust research will be essential to demonstrate impact—not only on youth wellbeing, but also on business outcomes—alongside greater collaboration between the tech industry, educators, researchers, and families.

The Ruderman Family Foundation commissioned this learning project as part of its broader mission to promote inclusion, innovation, and mental health for children and young adults. This report is the latest in a series from the Foundation on the topic, including previous white papers examining how gaming can address youth, strategies for using gaming to support mental health, and the effectiveness of digital mental health tools in higher education. Through this ongoing research, the Foundation continues to explore innovative approaches to supporting youth mental health and wellbeing in our increasingly digital world.

The full report is available at: https://rudermanfoundation.org/white_papers/leveraging-interactive-media-to-foster-social-emotional-learning-for-youth/

About the Ruderman Family Foundation

The Ruderman Family Foundation is an internationally recognized organization that works to end the stigma associated with mental health. The Foundation does this by identifying gaps in mental health resources and programs within the high school and higher education communities as well as by organizing other local and national programming and initiatives that raise greater awareness around the stigma. The Ruderman Family Foundation believes that inclusion and understanding of all people is essential to a fair and flourishing community and imposes these values within its leadership and funding. For more information, visit: rudermanfoundation.org

About EDC

EDC works with partners worldwide to advance every person’s journey to learn, work, and be well. Since 1958, it has been a leader in community-led initiatives that promote sustainable change and advance solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. Operating in the United States and across more than 80 countries, EDC designs, implements, and evaluates programs in service of championing people and transforming systems.