Essex research shows girls using social media are unhappier

Girls who start using social media younger tend to be unhappier as they progress through their teens according to researchers at the University of Essex.

Their latest study shows girls who spent an hour or more on social media by the age of 10 showed lower well-being by the time they reached 15.

The research, based on a survey of 9,859 UK adolescents aged 10 to 15 years.

By age 13, about half of the girls surveyed used social media for more than one hour per day on a typical school day, compared to one-third of boys