Teen social media addiction soars in Israel, study finds

Many families in Israel are waging a battle with their children in the hope of preventing them from becoming addicted to social media and maintaining a balance between screen time and social life, school, hobbies, physical activity and more. But a new study shows that it is a battle most of us are losing. The study found that the share of Israeli students in grades 7-12 who are "addicted" to social media has nearly quadrupled in six years, rising from 4.1% in 2019 to 16.3% in 2025. While Israel ranked near the bottom of the European table in this troubling category in 2019, it now ranks fourth, behind Romania, Malta and Bulgaria. The countries where teens have been most successful at escaping this "addictive drug"? Hungary, the Netherlands and Switzerland.