Social media as a drug: how these invisible addictions put young people at risk

Smartphones and social media are like cocaine or new synthetic drugs: they alter the brain’s pleasure and reward circuits, leading to addiction and, little by little, a withdrawal from relationships and the real world. In a world where young people are grappling with a form of distress that is fluid, hidden and multifaceted – leaving parents unable to identify it – the very concept of ‘drug’ has been redefined, encompassing not only traditional substances but also compulsive digital behaviours capable of altering sensory and cognitive perceptions in exactly the same way as a narcotic substance. The alarm has been raised by Prof. Gabriele Sani, Director of the Complex Operational Unit for Clinical and Emergency Psychiatry and head of CEPID (Integrated Psychiatric Centre for Research, Prevention and Treatment of Addictions) at the Policlinico Gemelli in Rome. “Addictions are no longer limited to traditional drugs – which, unfortunately, remain alarmingly widespread – but are evolving into serious behavioural and digital dysfunctions,” explains Sani. “The data confirm that tens of thousands of Italian adolescents suffer from, or are at high risk of, behavioural addictions. We are talking about a compulsive and pathological use of technology in its various forms: from the general amount of time spent in front of a screen to social media, video games and so on. These dynamics affect the very same brain networks stimulated by drugs, seriously compromising the psychological, relational and educational development of our young people.”

According to Sani, the greatest risk lies in the ‘invisible’ nature of these addictions: as they often take place within the home, via a smartphone or computer, parents remain completely unaware of the crisis their children are going through, mistaking their isolation for mere shyness or a generational trait. “And when the problem becomes apparent,” he explains, “there is often a tendency to want to resolve the symptom quickly, without knowing how to tackle the underlying distress at the root of the addiction itself. These young people often have psychological distress or a genuine psychiatric condition that manifests itself through addiction. We must certainly address this, but we must also address the young person’s underlying psychological state and the family and relational context as a whole.”

Backing up this concern is a recent study published in the scientific journal “Frontiers in Psychology”, which found that over the last two decades there has been a growing global trend towards digital addiction, particularly with regard to smartphone use (27 per cent of the population), social media (17 per cent), the internet (14 per cent) and video games (6 per cent), with adolescents being the group most vulnerable to the influence of digital technologies. Specifically, according to an analysis published in June in the scientific journal “Archives of Psychiatric Nursing”, one in four adolescents globally (25 per cent) is thought to have problematic or addiction-like use of social media, whilst a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) highlights that smartphone addiction now affects the vast majority of adolescents, with 49.2 per cent of young people showing high levels of addiction, alongside a further 24.6 per cent who are experiencing an exponential increase in symptoms by the age of 15. Video games are also under scrutiny, with 41.1 per cent of young people exhibiting usage patterns associated with a high risk of addiction.

“These young people are not simply going through a difficult phase or a period of rebellion: they are suffering and need to be helped and treated. We need to develop integrated prevention and treatment programmes that combine psychiatric support with behavioural rehabilitation and family support. Only through a strong therapeutic partnership between schools, families and specialist centres such as CEPID can we break through the veil of isolation into which these young people have retreated, restoring to them a real, authentic outlook on life, free from all forms of slavery, whether chemical or virtual”, continues Prof. Sani.

The use of artificial intelligence amongst very young people is also on the rise: according to the report “European children’s use and understanding of generative AI” compiled by the international research network EU Kids Online (EUKO), 72 per cent of children aged between 13 and 17 in Europe now regularly use generative AI (compared with just 28 per cent who say they do not use it at all). It is against this backdrop that the analysis of the situation in Italy takes place, where the boundary between physical and psychological distress and virtual distress is becoming increasingly blurred. According to the “Annual Report to Parliament on the Phenomenon of Addictions”, in 2025, nearly 350,000 pupils under the age of 18 reported having used at least one illegal substance during the year, equivalent to 23 per cent of the underage school population, an increase compared with 2024 (+20 per cent), with cannabis and cocaine being the most widely used substances. Substance use is also accompanied by risky behaviours linked to the use of digital technologies: around 15,000 pupils aged between 11 and 13 exhibit behaviours attributable to ‘social media addiction’, and 111,000 pupils (7 per cent) are at risk of internet gaming disorder.