Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Heavy Social Media Users Trapped In Endless Cycle of Depression (independent.co.uk)

Posted by msmash on from the it's-a-trap dept.

An anonymous reader quotes an article on The Independent: The more time young adults spend on social media, the more likely they are to become depressed, a study has found. Of the 19- to 32-year-olds who took part in the research, those who checked social media most frequently throughout the week were 2.7 times more likely to develop depression than those who checked least often. The 1,787 U.S. participants used social media for an average 61 minutes every day, visiting accounts 30 times per week. Of them a quarter were found to have high indicators of depression. Dr Brian Primack, the director of Pitt's Centre for Research on Media, Technology and Health, led the study, said, "One strong possibility is that people who are already having depressive symptoms start to use social media more, perhaps because they do not feel the energy or drive to engage in as many direct social relationships." Update: 03/26 17:06 GMT by M : Oops -- as many of you correctly pointed out, we originally covered this story on Friday. Apologies for the error. Thanks!

6 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. /. Found to be trapped in an endless cycle by sims+2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ./ Found to be trapped in an endless cycle of depression.
    This story again later tomorrow.

    https://news.slashdot.org/stor...

    --
    Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
    1. Re:/. Found to be trapped in an endless cycle by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      Slashdot is a bit different then other social media.
      While they may be a few big names out there, the most of us, even ones with max karma, are really just a few words in the static. Most of us really know this on Slashdot.
      No matter how insightful your post is, or qualified you are, it may get a lot of attention for about an hour, then shoved away as an old new article. However the attention is directed at your comment, not as much as yourself.
      I am not expecting results from future posts stating that Jellomizer guy, his views are not consistent, or look he trolled an article last month, obviously his statement now is false.

      Social media sites like Facebook, it is far more personal, if you are a big poster with a large following you are seen as yourself and are judged on the whole about your personality. Such as that Guy who keeps on posting Left/Right leaning political posts at the point of nausea. Or the person who is always saying how everything in his life is bad. On social media, you are judged as a person, while on Slashdot, your content is judged on its own.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:/. Found to be trapped in an endless cycle by execthis · · Score: 2

      Facebook and Twitter are stupid. Some people try it and figure it out quickly. For whatever reason others do not. Perhaps because corporations have embraced them so much and now actively promote them - but that should be a clear sign of what they really are.

      Its kind of like the same thing when you shop for cosmetics. I guarantee you that most of the staff do not really understand 99% of the actual chemical properties of the products they sell. It is a world of almost pure marketing hype. Ok, maybe its fun every now and again to go into that world and try a product or two. But it is not a world to live in. It is not grounded in reality.

      Slashdot is very different. It is a forum. I guess it can be a bit addictive at times but then there are times when you're reading through some thread late at night and find a hilarious post that makes you laugh. I think online forums can bring communities closer in ways. "Social media" - what a BS name actually - is more like destroying communities.

  2. Title is backwards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    As per the quote:

    "One strong possibility is that people who are already having depressive symptoms start to use social media more, perhaps because they do not feel the energy or drive to engage in as many direct social relationships."

    I think it is much more likely that depression causes the social media use, not that the social media use causes depression. Otherwise you might as well blame TV, books, and magazines, which all also portray unrealistic people and lives.

  3. Causation. by edibobb · · Score: 2

    "Depressed people more likely to use Facebook relentlessly."

  4. Re:GONE! by flyingfsck · · Score: 2

    What is facebook?

    --
    Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!