Social Media Use Linked To Developing Depression
New York, Oct 4 Young adults, who use more social media, are significantly more likely to develop depression within six months, regardless of personality type, finds a new study.
The findings, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, showed that the people with high agreeableness were 49 per cent less likely to become depressed than those with low agreeableness.
Previous research has linked the development of depression with numerous factors, said the authors, including Chunhua Cao, an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Alabama.
However, the literature has been lacking in studies that focus on how various personality characteristics may interact with social media use and depression. This new study addressed these important research questions, finding strong and linear associations of depression across all personality traits, they added.
The team also found that those with high neuroticism were twice as likely to develop depression than those with low neuroticism when using more than 300 minutes of social media per day.
For the study, the team involved a sample of more than 1,000 US adults between the ages of 18 to 30.
Depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire. Social media was measured by asking participants how much daily time was spent using popular social media platforms.
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Depression Has Been Noted As The Leading Cause Of Disability And Mortality Worldwide This Makes These Findings Even More Pronounced For Creating Health Interventions And Prevention Efforts
Washington: Researchers in public policy and education recently found that young adults who use more social media are significantly more likely to develop depression within six months, regardless of personality type.
Published in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, the study, Associations between social media use, personality structure, and development of depression, was co-authored by Renae Merrill, a doctoral student in the Public Policy Program at the University of Arkansas.
Merrill wrote the paper with dean of the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University, Brian Primack, and Chunhua Cao, an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Alabama.
Previous research has linked the development of depression with numerous factors, the authors noted. However, the literature has been lacking in studies that focus on how various personality characteristics may interact with social media use and depression. This new study addressed these important research questions, finding strong and linear associations of depression across all personality traits.
Dealing With Negative Side Effects Of Social Media Use
Some people believe that the solution for those who feel negatively impacted by using social media is to just stop using the platforms. However, its virtually impossible to do so for some of people, with many workplaces incorporating social media networking into day-to-day business. Therefore, Dr Mayshak suggests its important to be aware of your own mental health when using social media, and more generally too.
First, its important to seek help, she says. This may be through a direct contact with a service such as Beyond Blue, or by making an appointment with one of Deakins support services, Dr Mayshak suggests. Becoming involved in meaningful activities beyond the realm of social media can also be beneficial to your mental health.
While social media sites offer an important link to friendship groups and for many just scrolling through their friends posts can reduce feelings of isolation, if it is having the opposite effect, its important to take action. If someone is finding that they feel down or have a decreased sense of self-worth after visiting social media sites, they should take some time to curate a newsfeed that wont be detrimental.
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Using Lots Of Social Media Sites Raises Depression Risk
A national survey by Pitt’s Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health found that use of multiple social media platforms is more strongly associated with depression and anxiety among young adults than the total amount of time they spend on social media.
The analysis, published online and scheduled for the April print issue of the journal Computers in Human Behavior, showed that people who report using seven to 11 social media platforms had more than three times the risk of depression and anxiety than their peers who use no more than two platforms, even after adjusting for the total time spent on social media overall.
This association is strong enough that clinicians could consider asking their patients with depression and anxiety about multiple platform use and counseling them that this use may be related to their symptoms, said lead author Brian A. Primack, MD, PhD, assistant vice chancellor for health and society in Pitts Schools of the Health Sciences and the center’s director. While we cant tell from this study whether depressed and anxious people seek out multiple platforms or whether something about using multiple platforms can lead to depression and anxiety, in either case the results are potentially valuable.
Primack, who also is a professor of medicine at Pitt, emphasized that the directionality of the association is unclear.
Primack and his team propose several hypotheses as to why multi-platform social media use may drive depression and anxiety:
Why Social Media May Contribute To Depression
While social media doesn’t directly cause depression, it fuels emotions and activities that can. From “doom scrolling” to a lack of physical activity, this is how social media may activate depressive symptoms.
Feelings of isolation: Social media can help cultivate a sense of community and lead to lasting friendships, but it can also cause FOMO, aka “fear of missing out.”
“You are watching other people be together, which can enhance feelings of loneliness, envy, feeling left out, and alienated,” says Gail Saltz, MD, an associate professor of psychiatry at the New York Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell School of Medicine. “It creates the feeling that you are on the outside looking in, can’t participate, can’t measure up, and would embarrass yourself if you tried.”
A large 2019 study studied the effects of social media on perceived social isolation in students aged 18 to 30 years old. Researchers found that each 10% increase in self-described negative experiences on social media enhanced feelings of isolation by 13%.
Conversely, a 10% increase in self-described positive experiences on social media did not make people feel any less isolated. Therefore, even though people can have positive experiences on social media, they do not necessarily alleviate the negative feelings of isolation.
“Sleep deprivation can increase anxiety and worsen mood,” says Saltz. In fact, there is a growing body of evidence that lack of sleep may induce or exacerbate depression.
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Social Media And Self
Another theory about the increase in depression is the loss of self-esteem, especially in teenage girls, when they compare themselves negatively with artfully curated images of those who appear to be prettier, thinner, more popular and richer.
Many girls are bombarded with their friends posting the most perfect pictures of themselves, or theyre following celebrities and influencers who do a lot of Photoshopping and have makeup and hair teams, explains Dr. Hamlet. If thats their model for what is normal, it can be very hard on their self-confidence.
Indeed, image-driven Instagram shows up in surveys as the platform that most leads young people to report feeling anxiety, depression and worries about body image.
Curation of a perfect image may not only make others feel inadequate, its unhealthy even for those who appear to be successful at it, notes Dr. Bubrick. Kids spend so much time on social media trying to post what they think the world will think is a perfect life. Look at how happy I am! Look how beautiful I am! Without that theyre worried that their friends wont accept them. Theyre afraid of being rejected. And if they are getting positive feedback from their social media accounts, they might worry that what their friends like isnt the real them.
Distract Yourself From The Distraction
People arent usually motivated to change their social media use by simply hearing its bad for them. Its better for individuals to see what their limits are. Its probably unrealistic for most social media users to quit completely. However, they can monitor their behavior to see how their use impacts them, and how to act as a result.
Michelle knows this all too well. When she was initially treated for anxiety, her therapist asked her if she was active on social media, and she said yes. It turns out that a lot of my anxiety and impostor syndrome is made worse when Im online.
A person experiences impostor syndrome when feeling chronic self-doubt and a sense of being exposed as a fraud in terms of success and intellect. Whether its another pretty vacation or someones bouquet of flowers, my mind went from Why not me? to I dont deserve those things, and I dont know why, and it made me feel awful.
She and her therapist decided to set ground rules. If I was to continue using social media, I had to learn what would trigger my anxiety and how using different platforms made me feel, says Michelle. The result was her deleting Snapchat for good, and after 5 years, she still doesnt miss it. Shes still active on several other platforms, though.
If one notices that one feels less happy after using them, then one might consider changing how one uses social media sites, such as using them for less time and doing other activities that one enjoys instead.
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Heavy Social Media Use Linked To Depression In Young Teens New Study Shows
Adolescents using social media for three hours or more a day are more likely to show signs of depression at age 14, compared to their peers who use it less often.
Researchers from University College London analysed information on nearly 11,000 young people born in the UK at the turn of the century who are taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study. At age 14, the teens were asked questions about their mental health, and were also asked to report on their social media use, experience of cyberbullying, sleep patterns, self-esteem and body image.
The findings revealed that the link between excessive social media use and depression could be partly explained by the fact that teens who used it heavily were more likely to have disrupted sleep and tended to experience cyberbullying. Heavy social media use and cyberbullying also appeared to lower their self-esteem and satisfaction with their body image.
Girls who were heavy users of social media tended to have greater depressive symptoms than boys. Girls who logged in for three to five hours a day experienced a 26 per cent increase in depressive symptoms while boys had a 21 per cent rise, compared to those who used social media for one to three hours a day.
At home, families may want to reflect on when and where its ok to be on social media and agree limits for time spent online. Curfews for use and the overnight removal of mobile devices from bedrooms might also be something to consider.
Further information
Title And Abstract Relevance Screening
The search yielded 728 articles of which six duplicates were removed. One author screened the remainder of the articles by title and abstract and a second author reviewed every 25th article for agreement. All authors screened full-text articles and extracted data from those that met the inclusion criteria. The authors met over the course of the full-text review process to resolve conflicts and maintain consistency among the authors themselves and with the research question. Of the total number of studies included for full-text review, 505 articles were excluded. Out of the 223 full-text studies assessed for eligibility, 175 were excluded. A total of 42 articles were eligible for review . A form was developed to extract the characteristics of each study that included author and year of publication, objectives of the study, study method, country where the study was conducted, depression scale used, number of participants, participant age, and results .
PRISMA flow chart of data selection process.
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Facebook Access Leads To More Anxiety And Depression
When Facebook began, access was restricted to people with a Harvard email address. Less than a month later, the website had expanded to Columbia, Stanford, and Yale. This progressive opening continued until September of 2006, when anybody over 13 years old was able to create an account.
College-wide Facebook access led to a 7% increase in severe depression among students, researchers found.
We were able to use the fact that Facebook rolled out at different universities at different times, together with the fact that we have this huge survey already conducted at universities, to understand the causal impact of Facebook on student mental health, Makarin said.
Most broadly, the researchers found a sizable increase in the number of students who reported mental distress at some time in the preceding year. College-wide access to Facebook led to an increase in severe depression by 7% and anxiety disorder by 20%. Beyond these results, a greater percentage of the most susceptible students also treated symptoms with either psychotherapy or antidepressants. In total, the negative effect of Facebook on mental health appeared to be roughly 20% the magnitude of what is experienced by those who lose their job.
Social Media And Depression
One of the biggest differences in the lives of current teenagers and young adults, compared to earlier generations, is that they spend much less time connecting with their peers in person and more time connecting electronically, principally through social media.
Some experts see the rise in depression as evidence that the connections social media users form electronically are less emotionally satisfying, leaving them feeling socially isolated.
The less you are connected with human beings in a deep, empathic way, the less youre really getting the benefits of a social interaction, points out Alexandra Hamlet, PsyD, a clinical psychologist. The more superficial it is, the less likely its going to cause you to feel connected, which is something we all need.
Indeed, one exception to the depression correlation is girls who are high users of social media but also keep up a high level of face-to-face social interaction. The Twenge study showed that those girls who interact intensely offline as well as through social media dont show the increase in depressive symptoms that those who interact less in person do.
And there are some teenagers who arent successful in connecting with peers offline, because they are isolated geographically or dont feel accepted in their schools and local communities. For those kids, electronic connection can be lifesaving.
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Bad News And Doomscrolling
One in five Americans now get their news from social mediaa larger proportion than those who get their news from traditional print media.
For heavy social media users, people who log in for multiple hours at a time or multiple times a day, this means frequent exposure news, including bad news. Headlines related to natural disasters, terrorist attacks, political strife, and celebrity deaths frequently top lists of social media trends.
Before the advent of social media and the internet generally, ones exposure to bad news was limited. The public got news from broadcasts that aired at certain times of the day or from newspapers.
The habit of binging bad news on social media sites or elsewhere online is known as doomscrolling, and it can adversely affect ones mental health, leading to development or heightening of anxiety or depression symptoms.
A 2018 Lancet Psychiatry study of 91,005 people found that those who logged onto Facebook before bedtime were 6% likelier to have major depressive disorder and rated their happiness level 9% lower than those with better sleep hygiene did.
Looking For Signs Of Depression In Your Teen
Because of the scientific research-backed correlations between symptoms of depression and social media use, it falls upon parents and caregivers to identify the depressive symptoms. The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health offers some guidelines for identifying when it may be time to seek help for children or young adults. Generally speaking, you should pursue professional assistance when new behaviors persist longer than a few weeks and interfere with school, home, or social life. Thoughts of suicide and self-harm or threats of harm to others should be addressed with proper support.
There are also a number of specific behaviors to look for in teens:
- Low energy or odd sleep patterns that include too little or too much time in bed
- No interest in friends or spending less time with favorite hobbies
- Social isolation
- Risky or potentially destructive behaviors
Communication is one of the best tools for identifying depression. According to MentalHealth.gov, teens suffering from depression may express persistent feelings of sadness, low self-esteem, or worthlessness. While occasional sadness may be normal, note if feelings do not dissipate.
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Does Social Media Use Increase Depressive Symptoms A Reverse Causation Perspective
- 1Singapore Management University, Singapore, Singapore
- 2Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
According to the World Health Organization , 264 million individuals worldwide suffer from depressiona condition characterized by feelings of low self-worth, impaired concentration, and disturbed sleep, among various other maladaptive symptoms . Adolescents between 13 and 18 years of age are also vulnerable , with a 52% increase in the prevalence of depression among adolescents from 2005 to 2017 . Depression is tied to many serious problems including failure to complete education, higher unplanned parenthood rates, poorer interpersonal relations, and heightened risk of substance abuse and suicidality .
However, there are good reasons to suspect that these conclusions are premature or incorrect. For instance, the haste to pass social media a guilty verdict might stem from moral panic brought about by the fear of contemporary technology , where the third-person effect in which individuals overattribute certain behaviors to the influence of mass communication is a possible catalyst. Having such a convenient culprit for depression seriously oversimplifies our understanding of the etiology surrounding social media and depression .