Is Snapchat good for your mental health?

Humans have been trying to figure out whether social media is a good thing since, well, the dawn of social media. Countless studies have shown that while social media does facilitate things like long-distance community-building, allowing people with similar niche interests and identities to connect with one another, it also can have a negative impact on users’ mental health–and, in the case of minors specifically, can put them in danger of exploitation and predation.

Snapchat is currently facing a lawsuit from the Attorney General of New Mexico that accuses it of being “a primary platform used by criminals to carry out sextortion” of children. In the midst of that, it’s decided to highlight two studies that show Snapchat is the only social media platform that has a positive effect on users’ well-being.

Snapchat might disagree with our phrasing there, because its post about the studies claims it’s “an alternative to social media, where our community can connect with friends and family.” The platform definitely started that way, with its primary function allowing users to send one another ephemeral messages that self-destructed after opening. But, let’s be real, while people do use it to message their friends, it’s also become a social media site, complete with “Star” creators sharing hundreds of posts a day and a stab at competing with TikTok.

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And, according to these two studies, one from the University of Amsterdam and one from three Australian mental health organizations, there’s one area where Snap doesn’t need to compete with TikTok: preserving users’ mental health.

“We found a consistent negative impact on time spent on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube across all three mental health dimensions,” the University of Amsterdam said in its report. “Conversely, spending time on Snapchat positively affected friendship closeness and well-being but had no significant impact on self-esteem.”

The university went so far as to say that Snapchat’s results indicate that “we should avoid a blanket condemnation of all social media platforms.”

The three Australian mental health organizations were more demure in their conclusion, saying that overall, they “found no evidence to indicate that using social media to facilitate social connections was associated with poorer mental health. Rather, it found that more frequently using social media to communicate with people teens knew in real life was associated with lower symptoms of depression and anxiety.”

That association “may explain why a higher number of hours using Snapchat was not associated with any of the mental health symptoms examined, because Snapchat is a messaging app that adolescents primarily use to communicate with their friends,” the organizations said.

It’s notable that Snapchat got, if not endorsement, than a lack of condemnation from Australian mental health orgs, because Australia is currently working to ban kids from all social media apps. It’s already laid plans to set a minimum age limit for social media later this year, with that limit reported to be between ages 14 and 16. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said this ban stems from the country wanting kids “to have real experiences with real people because we know that social media is causing social harm.”

The University of Amsterdam added that its study (conducted with 479 participants) “underscore[s] the complex and multifaceted impact of social media on adolescent mental health,” and “highlights the urgent need for more nuanced research and targeted interventions that consider specific platforms and the individual experiences of adolescents.”

Snapchat says it’s also working with the University of Chicago‘s National Opinion Research Center and YouGov to commission its own studies about the effects it has on users, but in the meantime, “we’re excited to see these independent studies reinforce that Snapchat is a platform that supports friendship and contributes to more happiness.”

The lawsuit from New Mexico’s Attorney General claims Snapchat hosts “a vast network of dark web sites dedicated to sharing stolen, non-consensual sexual images,” and seeks to have the app banned in the state. Snap issued a statement in response to the suit, saying it shares the Attorney General’s “concerns about the online safety of young people and are deeply committed to Snapchat being a safe and positive place for our entire community, particularly for our younger users.”