Social Media's Impact on Global Happiness: Canada's Slide

Canada's stories, making news on March 20th.

The 2026 World Happiness Report is out.

Showing Canada dropping to 25th place globally, down from 18th last year.

Finland leads the pack once more, followed by Iceland and Denmark,

while nations like Malawi, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan sit at the very bottom of the 147 country list.

Researchers highlight social media as a major culprit behind the slide.

At a lesson spending more than seven hours a day on it, show far worse well-being compared to those using less than one hour.

Many young people feel trapped by it.

In the United States, most college students admit they wish social media platforms never existed, yet they keep scrolling because everyone else does.

Connection-focused apps can actually lift happiness, but algorithm-driven feeds often harm it at high usage levels.

Heavy users face the biggest risks, particularly in English-speaking countries and Western Europe.

The report is blunt on kids and teens, declaring social media unsafe for them based on studies, surveys, and experiments.

Australia recently raised the minimum age to 16 on 10 major platforms, with Denmark, France, and Spain eyeing similar moves.

Canada now trails Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Poland, but edges out Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

Happiness here hinges on a simple life evaluation ladder from 0 to 10, and curving social media access could help climb back up.