Young people want restrictions on phone and tablet apps to stop users spending too much time on them or becoming addicted.

A survey conducted by the University of Birmingham found young people believed their were dangers as well as benefits in social media use, and some believed it had helped them develop addictive behaviour, encouraged them to try “extreme” diets or to become obsessed with the way they look.

They felt that social media companies had a responsibility to protect young people from the damage taht social media could cause.

Academics said: “Young people suggested that the liability/accountability lies with the social media sites and app developers, and feel that mechanisms should be in place to protect young people against inappropriate content that reaches them (e.g., fake news) and restrictions should be placed on apps to prevent excessive usage and the development of addictive behaviours.”

The findings were published in a submission to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the impact of social media and screen-use on young people’s health.

Academics carried out research involving 1,691 young people aged 13 to 18, who were asked about their engagement with social media, apps and wearable devices, and how it affected their health and well-being.

Young people say restrictions should be placed on apps to prevent excessive usage and the development of addictive behaviours

Researchers found social media and health-related apps were “a valuable learning resource” for many young people. Half said they used social media to get advice about healthy eating, sleep, exercise and body image, while more than six out of ten said that social media was a good source of health information.

But the academics said that young people also came across “inappropriate content” such as material advocating diet products and techniques that may not be suitable for children.

“Some young people reported that they had developed obsessive/addictive monitoring behaviours, engaged with extreme diets and/or exercises, and experienced heightened levels of body dissatisfaction as a direct result of accessing material from social media.”

Young people also believed that adults were able to offer limited help and advice about using social media.

“The young people reported that schools, teachers and family members were individuals who could offer them the support they need to navigate social media and digital health and wellbeing apps.

“Yet, the data showed that adults need to be more understanding of young people’s uses of digital health technologies and become sufficiently digitally literate to offer support to young people at times of risk/vulnerability and to ensure positive health outcomes are realised.”

The inquiry also received written evidence from children’s charities.

A joint submission from mental health charity YoungMinds and The Children’s Society warned that young people who use social media the most also tend to suffer depression and low self-esteem. However, it was not clear whether one caused the other.

The charities said: “We heard evidence that young people who are the most frequent users of social media are most vulnerable to low well-being and symptoms of anxiety and depression, among other harms such as loss of empathy. There is also some evidence of a gender difference, with girls who use social media excessively being more likely to experience low well-being and low self-esteem.

“However, there needs to be a stronger evidence base about the causal relationship between excessive social media usage and low wellbeing – it is unclear whether young people experiencing low wellbeing are more likely to use social media excessively (as a support network for example), or whether those who use social media excessively are more likely to develop low wellbeing.”

Children’s charity Barnardo’s said: “Increased stress, anxiety, poor self-esteem, depression, behaviour disorders, self-harm, sleep deprivation, eating disorders, poor social relationships and poor progress at school have also been linked to excessive use of social media.

“Research shows a ‘clear association’ between time spent on social media and mental health problems.

“Whilst 12% of children who spend no time on social networking websites have symptoms of mental ill health, the figure rises to 27% for those who are on the sites for three or more hours a day. Excessive internet use has been linked to depression, poor sleep and other social and emotional problems.”