A new report from Common Sense media raises concerns about the potential impact of social media on teenagers’ mental health. | Indranil Mukherjee/AFP via Getty Images

A new report from Common Sense Media analyzes current research on how social media impacts teens’ mental health.

As the US continues to struggle to contain the Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing recommendations remain in place, millions of US children and adolescents aren’t expected to attend school in-person in the fall — meaning they’ll often be stuck inside their homes and using the internet as a primary means of human connection. The situation has resurfaced a longstanding, difficult-to-answer question: Is technology going to ruin my teenager’s brain?

For years, some have blamed the growing rate of teenagers suffering from mental health issues in the US on the drastic increase in how much they’re engaging with digital devices compared