New Independent Research Shows Snapchat’s Positive Impact on Wellbeing and Friendships
New independent research from the Netherlands and Australia has validated the way we designed Snapchat from the beginning as an alternative to social media where our community can connect with friends and family.
The University of Amsterdam 1 has carried out research into the use of large social media platforms by adolescents and concluded that Snapchat is the only platform that positively impacts wellbeing. One of the findings of the study was that,
“We found a consistent negative impact that time spent on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube has across all three aspects of mental health. Conversely, spending time on Snapchat has a positive effect on the closeness of connections between friends and their wellbeing without a significant impact on self-esteem.
“The positive and null effects associated with Snapchat and WhatsApp indicate that we should avoid a blanket condemnation of all social media platforms.”
Three Australian mental health organizations recently jointly submitted research results as part of the Australian Parliament’s investigation into social media and Australian society. The findings, which are drawn from The Future Proofing Study, Australia’s largest longitudinal study into youth mental health, uncovered that,
“[In contrast to other platforms], a higher number of hours on Snapchat was not found to be significantly associated with any of the mental health symptoms examined.”
“The study 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. This 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.”
While we have worked with reputable organisations including University of Chicago’s NORC and YouGov to commission our own research, we are excited to see these independent studies support our belief that Snapchat is a platform which makes friends closer and brings people happiness.