Adolescents’ Experiences of Social Media Content Types and Wellbeing: A Photo-Elicitation Interview Study
AI Summary
Algorithmically curated feeds repeatedly expose adolescents to seven content types, each experienced as double edged with benefits and risks that shape wellbeing.
Impacts closely tied to developmental processes: identity formation, social evaluation, emotional regulation, with younger adolescents seen as particularly vulnerable.
Recommendations call for research, education, and platform design to address content quality, recurrence, and emotional consequences of algorithmic exposure across adolescence.
BACKGROUND: Adolescents’ experiences of social media are increasingly shaped by algorithmic recommendation systems that structure repeated exposure to diverse content types. However, research has focused predominantly on screen time, with limited attention to the diverse types of content encountered within curated feeds or how these experiences intersect with developmental processes such as identity formation, social evaluation, and emotional regulation.
METHODS: Semi-structured photo-elicitation interviews were conducted in 2025 with 27 adolescents aged 14-19 years in the United Kingdom (mean age = 17.15 years, SD = 1.49; 70% self-described female). Participants shared screenshots from their TikTok For You or Instagram Explore pages to support discussion of algorithmically recommended content. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Seven content types were identified: entertainment, consumerism, identity-related, mental health, news and activism, body image, and AI-generated content. All were experienced as double-edged, with perceived benefits and risks shaped by repeated algorithmic exposure, developmental stage, emotional state, and individual context. Participants frequently reflected retrospectively on earlier social media experiences, identifying younger adolescence as a period of particular vulnerability. Perceived impacts were closely connected to developmental processes including identity formation, social evaluation, and emotional regulation, with younger adolescents perceived as less equipped to critically evaluate content or manage algorithmic exposure.
CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents’ wellbeing in relation to social media appears shaped by the types of content repeatedly encountered and the developmental context in which exposure occurs. Research, education, and platform design should address the quality, recurrence, and emotional consequences of algorithmically curated content exposure across adolescence.
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