It’s no coincidence that more young women than men are at risk of being addicted to their phones as social media is designed to make them doubt themselves, create insecurities, and feed into platforms that fuel and profit from their pain.
In 2025, a global study of more than 100,000 young people found that those who received their first smartphone before the age of 13 were significantly more likely to report poorer mental health in young adulthood, including higher rates of emotional dysregulation, detachment from reality and low self-worth.
Research presented at the 2025 European Psychiatric Association Congress found that young women reported higher social anxiety, a greater fear of negative perception and longer daily phone use than their male peers. These studies build on earlier Canadian-led research showing that 56 per cent of university-age women met the criteria for smartphone addiction, compared with 33 per cent of men and that disparity is not accidental.
The gender gap is clear.
Men often use phones for gaming, messaging or efficiency, while women use their devices for social reasons. Here they face pressure to perform: to curate beauty, showcase productivity and embody perfection online. No wonder women experience higher rates of addiction. The very design of these platforms exploits gendered insecurities and rewards self-comparison.
Social media platforms are engineered to exploit vulnerabilities and the result is higher addiction rates among young women.
According to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, research has shown that many of the features and functionalities used by technology companies encourage young girls to increase their online networks and online activity. Leading to even risking their own safety, making them vulnerable to grooming, abuse and harassment.
Ultimately, tech companies must rethink how social media platforms are designed in order to prioritize the safety of young women online.
The Stanford University department of human-centred artificial intelligence (A.I.) in 2021 shared some psychologists perspectives on social media algorithms and how they impact mental health, stating that they amplify insecurity, encourage comparison and reward endless scrolling, regardless of the negative impacts to mental health.
Many young adults find themselves stuck in these scrolling loops and feel anxiety when their posts do not receive enough likes. This refers to how when a user’s content receives engagement it activates the same dopamine pathways involved in motivation, reward, and addiction. These reactions are not signs of weakness, they are the outcome of deliberate design.
Science consistently links smartphone addiction to depression. One study from 2018 in the United States found that first-year university women described feeling trapped, as social media intensified body dissatisfaction and anxiety while simultaneously acting as a lifeline for friendships. This paradox shows that the very thing causing harm can also feel impossible to give up.
Evidence has existed long enough for accountability. Yet social media companies continue to profit while meaningful action remains limited. Without systemic intervention, platforms remain free to monetize harm.
There is hope in disruption though. Experts stress the need for self-awareness: users should try unfollowing accounts that trigger comparison, mute notifications and block toxic trends.
Redesigning feeds with content that inspires rather than diminishes can help rebuild confidence. These steps matter, but they place the burden on individuals rather than the companies creating the harm.
If countries like Australia and France can move swiftly to protect their youth, there’s no reason Canada should lag behind. Social media platforms are not neutral spaces, they’re engineered to keep users scrolling, often at the expense of mental health.
Canada needs policies that hold platforms accountable for their addictive features while encouraging empathetic design that prioritizes well-being over profit.
This requires a collective effort.
Lawmakers, tech companies and educators must work together to build digital spaces that support young people’s mental health, not undermine it.
The algorithms to define women’s worth, the more social media companies profit from that pain. Until platforms are held responsible, young women will remain vulnerable.