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Using Multiple Social Networks May Lead To Depression and Anxiety, Says Study (dailydot.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the one-has-to-draw-the-line-somewhere dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Daily Dot: The more social media you use, the higher the likelihood that you'll be anxious or depressed. At least according to the University of Pittsburgh Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health. In a study published online this month with more than 1,700 millennial adults, it found people who report using seven to 11 social media platforms had more than three times the risk of depression or anxiety than millennials who use zero to two platforms. The participants were asked about the most popular social media platforms in 2014, the year the study was conducted, which included Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine, and LinkedIn. Those who used more than seven platforms showed higher levels of depressive symptoms, even when researchers controlled for factors like race, gender, relationship status, household income, education, and total time spent on social media. Brian A. Primack, lead author of the study, notes that the correlation is not certain. He told PsyPost: "It may be that people who suffer from symptoms of depression or anxiety, or both, tend to subsequently use a broader range of social media outlets. For example, they may be searching out multiple avenues for a setting that feels comfortable and accepting. However, it could also be that trying to maintain a presence on multiple platforms may actually lead to depression and anxiety. More research will be needed to tease that apart."

17 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. causality by markdavis · · Score: 3, Insightful

    >"it found people who report using seven to 11 social media platforms had more than three times the risk of depression or anxiety than millennials who use zero to two platforms"

    Oooh, an opportunity for one of my favorite sayings...

        Correlation does not imply causation.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    Perhaps people who are depressed and anxious seek out more social media.

    1. Re:causality by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Informative

      Of course, correlation does not imply causation, so naturally all studies and theories (including ours) are immediately excused as total and complete fabricated bullshit.

      Nonsense. Observed correlation does not imply causation, but it often indicates it. So, although no one should conclude from this that social media activity causes depression, it does point in that direction. The true test is a controlled experiment that assigns people randomly to either activity on many sites, or limits them to just one, or maybe none. In a properly conducted controlled study, correlation certainly does imply correlation.

    2. Re:causality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      A few years ago, I decided to go on Facebook and look up people I went to high school with.

      All the hot girls are now old, fat, grandmothers.

      It certainly depressed the fuck out of me.

    3. Re:causality by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      All the hot girls are now old, fat, grandmothers.

      There's at least one girl I went to high school with who's really held up. One, (I swear to god I'm not making this up) was a stripper for a while and then got a PhD and is now the chair of a sociology department at some small university in California. She looks like she could still get up on that pole after having a couple of cocktails. Back in high school, she was one of them freckle bitches and couldn't get a date for the prom. I ran into her a couple of years later and she was smoking hot. I kicked myself for not being nicer to her back in junior year. She signed my yearbook with a heart. The hot girl that I took to the prom has indeed turned into a fat old grandma. This is why you should teach your sons to be nice to all the girls in school, because you never know who's gonna turn out to be fine as cherry wine.

      I don't know why I'm telling you this. Maybe because I can't post it on Facebook because she'll see it, and anyway I'm too drunk to manage the two-step authentication that I set up for just this kind of situation.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    4. Re:causality by jandersen · · Score: 2

      Correlation does not imply causation. ...
      Perhaps people who are depressed and anxious seek out more social media.

      There was a time, when saying this would have made you seem insightful, but that time is long gone. Surprising as it may be to you, the people who actually work with the scientific study of depression and anxiety are generally capable of thinking about several aspects of their material, and it would be really, really weird if they hadn't already spotted this one, thought it through and realised why the causality doesn't go that way. It's good to be skeptical - that is what scientists are, and that is why fundamentalists always hate them - but if you want your views to be respected, then you have to show respect in return, among other things by not assuming the scientists are complete idiots.

  2. Maybe this explains special snowflakes... by Chas · · Score: 4, Funny

    You know. "It's all me! Me me me!"

    Yet, when all those social networks either ignore them, or unilaterally label them as the byproduct of an unsatisfactory immediate post-insertion premature ejaculation?

    It hurts its widdle feewings!

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
    1. Re:Maybe this explains special snowflakes... by mvdwege · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You know what? If there is one generation that is 'Me! Me!' it is the boomers. The generation that found a cure for limp dicks to be more important than not destroying the planet.

      Mart (Gen-X)

      --
      "I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
    2. Re:Maybe this explains special snowflakes... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I can never tell if these posts are about liberal millennials or the alt-right. The former is supposed to be obsessed with social media and personal image, the latter complains loudly when their trolling gets them banned or is perceived to impinge on their precious freedom of speech.

      Both seem to be extremely thin-skinned, and in need of safe spaces to protect their feelings. Conservative groups have lists of college professors who offend them now, and demand respect for their views and beliefs. Both live in their own little bubbles and echo chambers. Both whine and complain constantly about hurt feelings and trivialities.

      Without context it's really hard figure out which group you are talking about.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. PLEASE MOD PARENT -1 REDUNDANT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    In the parent's haste to grab the first post, he failed to even fully read the summary. The summary offers two hypotheses. One is that people with depression use more social media networks in search of acceptance somewhere. The other hypothesis is that the stress caused by social media can lead to anxiety and depression. Although the headline describes one of those hypotheses, both are clearly presented in the summary. Therefore, there is nothing insightful about the parent. Please mod the parent -1 redundant.

    However, there may also be a feedback. If a person seeks acceptance in a wider variety of social media circles and fails to receive it, that may worsen the depression. The types of interactions by depressed people on social media may actually lead to rejection, especially from people not aware the person is suffering from mental illness. Therefore, it may be a combination of both, and feedback from rejection due to depressed behavior. That's a third hypothesis.

    1. Re:PLEASE MOD PARENT -1 REDUNDANT by arth1 · · Score: 2

      However, there may also be a feedback. If a person seeks acceptance in a wider variety of social media circles and fails to receive it, that may worsen the depression. The types of interactions by depressed people on social media may actually lead to rejection, especially from people not aware the person is suffering from mental illness. Therefore, it may be a combination of both, and feedback from rejection due to depressed behavior. That's a third hypothesis.

      Or there may be external factors that lead to both increases in depression and anxiety, and increases in social media usage, without either causing the other.
      Being without a job could be one such external factor.
      Going through a loss of a social partner (be it through death or break-up) could be another.

      The main problem I see here is how /. presents the story.

  4. Re:My social network is txt by arth1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I tried that, but they didn't appreciate ASCII art.

      _  _.-"_< }
       ""--"" 7(
             /())
            / )/
           ^ ( \
             / /
            /.'
           //
    ______/L___

  5. Everyone's saying it, so I will too... by ErichTheRed · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Correlation does not imply causation. There, now that the elephant in the room has been addressed...

    I can totally see social media leading to depression long term. Seriously, you have an entire set of platforms dedicated to championing narcissism and self promotion. I mentioned this a while back in a post about LinkedIn -- one of the things that drives me nuts is, having LinkedIn contacts from the tech and the business world, I notice the business guys posting the same shallow crap they do on Facebook looking for a circle of positive affirmation.

    Why do I think it makes people depressed and anxious? A couple reasons...
    - It's one-sided -- no one posts about the totally uninteresting, crappy boring parts of their lives. Unless you're rich beyond imagination or a celebrity, everyone will have down moments in their lives, periods of disappointment, and very sad things happen to them.
    - There's a pressure to be "always on" -- Stemming from the one-sided positive view of everything, people who might not be doing so well might feel the pressure to act like everything's fine. Having been there, as everyone has, I can't imagine how that feels in social media happy-land...it sucks in real life! There's a constant pressure to be on 24/7, sharing amazing details of your life. Thinking that everyone except you is doing perfectly is a recipe for depression.
    - The trolls -- Oh, the trolls, the cyberbullies...The Internet in general and social media specifically brings out the worst in people because they feel they're protected from behind the nice safe keyboard. Look at any news site comments section that uses Facebook identities. Now, people who rant on MSN or CNN are a self-selecting bunch, I'll grant you that -- but take a look sometime and see what people post. You'll see some of the most hateful, racist, angry, spiteful, snide commentary...right next to "John Smith, History Teacher, East Nowhere High School." I've had moments where I've thought "No way, that can't be that person's real name and occupation!" -- and then gone to LinkedIn or similar and found out that yes, that history teacher, dental hygienist or business owner really does correspond to the profile. It's (in my opinion) a sad commentary on how un-civil we are to each other.

    Personally, I'm not a big fan. I'd rather blog or post long-form comments on places like this than be constantly tweeting out yet another happy status update to make other people miserable. I enjoy thinking before writing and tend to prefer civil conversations.

  6. Social network? by mejustme · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does Slashdot count as "social network?"

    F5'ing the homepage waiting for the next story so I can read through questionable comments may contribute to my depression.

    1. Re:Social network? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

      Oh, hell no. Slashdot is my trolling network, as I love to troll the trolls here. Keeps me amused while I'm waiting for a script to get done at work. Needless to say, I run a lot of scripts.

    2. Re:Social network? by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      No, Slashdot is an anti-social network. Therefore, lots of slashdotting should make one happy.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  7. Re:My social network is txt by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Then I go to bed so I could wake up at 5:30 am and walk to school. Five miles away through the snow, uphill each way.

    You had it easy. We had to crawl 10 miles each way through the snow over broken glass on our knees, dodging mortar rounds and horny priests.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  8. seven to eleven???? by h4x0t · · Score: 2

    There are that many?

    If they all report news, I imagine those people quickly realize that everyone is withholding facts or just making things up as they go.