SINGAPORE – Scrolling social media for an hour daily may not be excessive for a youth, but using that time to obsessively check for likes and withdraw from in-person friendships are problematic symptoms that will require deeper intervention.

Such interventions include counselling, building coping mechanisms, and restricting harmful platform features, said experts responding to queries from The Straits Times.

These experts are part of a panel created by the Ministry of Health to examine the impact of social media use on young people’s mental health.

The panel has submitted its report to the Government, recommending tackling social media features that could expose young users to mental health risks, rather than an age-based blanket ban on social media.

The report, published on July 30, distinguished between problematic use and excessive use of social media. The latter is broadly defined as over three hours a day.

A key distinguishing factor is whether a youth’s ability to function in other aspects of their life is affected, said panellist Andrew Yee, an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information.

An adolescent who spends four hours a day on social media chatting with friends and engaging with a fan community can still be healthy even if their use is excessive, said Yee.

This is provided that their online interactions carry over to friendships in school, and they get enough sleep and eat regular meals, and are able to put the phone down when needed, he added.

While screen time tools can help to curb excessive use, experts also recommended the introduction of offline activities such as physical hobbies.

It becomes more worrying...