More than 40 million American adults – About 19% – directly with one Anxiety disordersin response to the National Institutes of Health.
Studies show that it’s anxiety It is most common in young people. In recent years, social psychologists resembling Jonathan Haidt Connections between tech use and anxiety are starting to be made. They argue that the dominance of smartphones and social media can affect not only young people’s habits and emotions, but in addition key elements of their brain development during adolescence.
Maintaining a consistent online presence will be the result Excessive social comparisonfor , for , for , . Sleep was disturbedfor , for , for , . Scattered attention And Increased exposure to cyberbullying – All of those can increase the prevalence of hysteria.
we’re Public health and policy researchers with one Interest in mental health. We consider that this issue goes beyond youth resentment. Evidence is increasingly linking such a chronic stress to various harmful health problems, including: Weak immune functionfor , for , for , . Increased cardiovascular risk And Poor cognitive performance. Over time, these effects can occur Increase the risk of chronic disease and other negative health outcomes.
So, in May 2025 we Conducted our own survey To measure the prevalence of hysteria within the state where we live, Florida, and explore whether it is definitely related to age and social media use.
What our survey asked
We surveyed 500 adults, and we designed our research to make sure that our survey group matched the state’s population by way of age, race, gender, political affiliation, and geographic distribution.
We used to A question mark called GAD-7which was developed by mental health professionals to evaluate symptoms of hysteria disorders on the whole. The GAD-7 asks participants to discover how anxious they’ve been in the course of the past two weeks. They answered on a four-point scale, from “not at all” to “almost every day”. These seven items included questions on anxiety, irritability, restlessness, and fear or panic.
A rating below 10 indicates minimal (0-4) or mild (5-9) anxiety. People who rating between 10 and 14 exhibit moderate anxiety, while a rating of 15 or higher is indicative of a severe anxiety disorder.
The difference between moderate and severe generalized anxiety corresponds to how often the participant experiences any of the seven items. For example, someone with severe generalized anxiety disorder may experience all seven items almost day by day, while someone with moderate generalized anxiety disorder can have experienced among the items several days up to now two weeks.
We also asked participants how much time they spend on social media platforms, resembling Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and the way they feel using these platforms.
What did we get?
Our survey found that 1 in 5 Floridians struggle with moderate to severe anxiety, which is consistent with National statistics.
Although the typical GAD-7 rating was 4.74—indicating that the “average” Floridian doesn’t have an anxiety disorder—18.6% of participants reported a minimum of moderate anxiety symptoms, with half of them reaching severe levels.
This result tells us that roughly 3.5 million Floridians may suffer from clinically significant anxiety.
Members Generation Zreported the very best rates of hysteria by a big margin within the 18- to 27-year-old age group in our sample. In fact, the typical GAD-7 rating for this group was 8.17—just under the edge for moderate anxiety—in comparison with a median of 6.50 for millennials, 5.32 for Gen Xers and three.04 for baby boomers.
These averages track with previous nationwide studies, which have found that the segment of the American adult population that suffers probably the most anxiety are members of Gen Z. According to a 2020 study, 30.9% of adults aged 18 to 23 Commonly reported anxiety disorder symptomsin comparison with only 27.9% of millennials, 17.2% of Gen Gens and eight.1% of Baby Boomers.
Social media and anxiety in Gen Z
To understand whether social media use might help explain the high rates of hysteria we observed amongst young Floridians, we examined the connection between time spent on social media and anxiety.
In general, those that didn’t use social media reported lower levels of hysteria, with a median GAD-7 rating of three.56. In comparison, the typical GAD-7 rating for individuals who used social media lower than an hour was 3.74, and it increased steadily as social media use increased, spending seven to nine hours per week on social media, and seven.08 for individuals who logged on for 10 hours or more.
Although spending time was necessary, the explanations Floridians used social media also made a giant difference in whether or not they experienced problems. Anxiety was lowest amongst those that used social media primarily to remain connected with family and friends. But it has grown significantly amongst individuals who use social media to remain up-to-date with current trends and popular culture or find out about health, fitness and wonder trends.
We also asked respondents in the event that they “sometimes feel like they’re missing out when they see what others post on social media.” Among those that agreed that they often get social media FOMOmean anxiety scores ranged between 7.26 and 9.00. But amongst those that disagreed, the typical scores were significantly lower — 4.16 or less.
Spent time on social media matters for youth
In this data, we see a transparent correlation between social media use and increased anxiety, and we see a greater trend for the final population and millennials to report higher levels of hysteria. This is smart, provided that young people generally spend more time on social media.
But a crucial query stays unanswered: Can reducing social media use lower anxiety rates for young adults?
To answer this query, we examined the connection between average weekly social media use and anxiety. But this time, we limited the evaluation to only those respondents who were members of the Gen Z and Millennial groups.
Even when the study was limited to those two groups, we found a transparent and decisive link between social media use and anxiety. Those who reported spending lower than an hour on social media per week had a median GAD-7 rating of two.89. These scores increased steadily when time spent on social media increased, reaching a high of 8.73 amongst those that used social media 10 hours or more per week.
Moderate intake to scale back anxiety
Our survey results confirm the suspicions of social psychologists and technocritics—namely, that the high rates of hysteria observed amongst young Americans look like linked to their time online. This is very true for individuals who spend time in digital spaces that facilitate social comparison and data overload.
We cannot be sure from this survey that social media alone is liable for the increased anxiety on the whole. Other aspects could also be involved, resembling digital information overload and decreased person-to-person contact. But the period of time spent on social media affects the mental health of young people in Florida.
A possible solution could also be moderate intake. Some emerging research suggests that Setting up automatic daily reminders Limiting social media use to half-hour a day. Another suggestion sometimes involves Taking a monthly break from social media.
People who feel they need more help with taking time without work social media may profit from searching for skilled help, resembling talking to a licensed therapist.