Skopje, 29 April 2026 (MIA) - Parliament’s Club on Youth Affairs and Policies marked European Youth Week 2026 with a public discussion Wednesday on the impact of social media use on young people and their mental health.

Addressing the discussion, Minister of Digital Transformation Stefan Andonovski said schoolchildren should focus on learning and developing themselves, while also being able to feel safe in the digital and physical space. The Minister said too often on this issue society tends to minimize the role of parents, while overstating the role of the state.

Deputy Minister of Social Policy, Demographics, and Youth, Gjoko Velkovski stressed young people’s mental health cannot be marginalized, nor treated as a secondary topic, while Maria Kanellopoulou from the EU Delegation in the country, highlighted the EU’s new Law on Digital Services expected to ensure greater safety. 

According to Ana Mihajlov, head of the National Agency for European Educational Programs and Mobility, constant work is needed to ensure young people use social media properly.

“As much as social media helps in providing access to information, statistics show it also has a negative impact if used incorrectly, causing depression and anxiety, which is why work needs to be done on digital literacy to ensure young people use social media properly,” Mihajlov said.

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