According to a study conducted by Cambridge University’s Digital Mental Health program, social media may be causing mental issues in teens, particularly as they enter puberty.

The study, reported by The Verge, noted that it came to this conclusion from studying the results of seven surveys of 72,000 individuals between 2011 and 2018 and a survey of 17,000 between the ages of 10 to 21.

The study found that higher social media usage resulted in teens having ‘low’ self-esteem and ‘poor’ body image, which showed up when they entered puberty, and also at the time they were ready to leave home.

The Verge reports:

“Narrowing in on adolescents, the team found that for people in the 16- to 21-year-old age range, both very low and very high social media use were both linked with lower life satisfaction.

In 10- to 15-year-olds, there wasn’tmuch difference in life satisfaction between kids reporting low and high social media use. But in that group, girls with high social media use had lower life satisfaction than boys.”

READ: Social media might be bad for teens’ mental health at certain age windows