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Researchers Say Social Media Can Cause Depression (marketwatch.com)
Spending too much time on "social media" sites like Facebook is making people more than just miserable. It may also be making them depressed. From a report: A new study conducted by psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania has shown -- for the first time -- a causal link between time spent on social media and depression and loneliness, the researchers said. It concluded that those who drastically cut back their use of sites like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat often saw a marked improvement in their mood and in how they felt about their lives.
"It was striking," says Melissa Hunt, psychology professor at University of Pennsylvania, who led the study. "What we found over the course of three weeks was that rates of depression and loneliness went down significantly for people who limited their (social media) use." Many of those who began the study with moderate clinical depression finished just a few weeks later with very mild symptoms, she says.
The study, "No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression," was conducted by Melissa Hunt, Rachel Marx, Courtney Lipson and Jordyn Young, is being published by the peer-reviewed Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. For the study, Hunt and her team studied 143 undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania over a number of weeks. They tested their mood and sense of well-being using seven different established scales.
"It was striking," says Melissa Hunt, psychology professor at University of Pennsylvania, who led the study. "What we found over the course of three weeks was that rates of depression and loneliness went down significantly for people who limited their (social media) use." Many of those who began the study with moderate clinical depression finished just a few weeks later with very mild symptoms, she says.
The study, "No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression," was conducted by Melissa Hunt, Rachel Marx, Courtney Lipson and Jordyn Young, is being published by the peer-reviewed Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. For the study, Hunt and her team studied 143 undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania over a number of weeks. They tested their mood and sense of well-being using seven different established scales.
You only get one life - live it in the real world.
Stop using social media.
Turn off the algorithms.
Stop watching 24/7 opinion channels pretending to be news.
There is nothing positive in any of it.
You're telling me constantly hearing about the good things in other peoples lives on an hourly basis and almost never hearing about their struggles or problems is bad for your mental health? Bullshit!
Does and Will.
People have found a virtual form of alcohol which makes them feel powerful, but at the same time causes depression. No doubt there will be a link found to violence in the future.
Worst thing is, you can't regulate it.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
People usually post on social media when things are going well for them or they are happy.
So if you have a pile of friends, some of them will typically be posting something sickening like that.
And you will see that and wonder why you aren't doing the things they are, why they do so much more, and then you feel like crap.
The fact that the other people are also feeling crap is not noticed, as few people post things like that on social media.
Social media simply cannot beat going to the pub in person, and having a nice chat and time and a few beers.
What if it isn't specifically social media, but the whole dang Internet?
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I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I was out of money a long time ago.
Gee, wonder how big their grant was to conduct this 'study', and what the money was actually spent on? /s
Facebook is not the real world, not by a longshot. It's closer to reality on a middling-bad acid trip, and that's on a good day.
Humans are a social species, and so-called 'social media' (especially Facebook) is about as ersatz as ersatz can get; it's like a bad Chinese knock-off of actual social interaction.
So the jury is in with their verdict: Kill your Facebook account, do it today, and start being actually social with people again. I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'll keep saying it: 'Social media' is cancerous, and now we see the proof. It needs to be surgically excised from your lives, and real social interaction is the chemo to fix the damage.
This is hardly earth shattering at this point. I remember when the initial studies of the toxicity of social media first came out several years ago. Facebook just about encourages us to compare and judge our lives to that of our friends. This comparison can cause depression when we perceive our friends as having more success in career and family than we have. On top of that, add the constant cycle of bad political and world news and it just spirals downhill. The best thing I ever did was delete Facebook and Twitter. The more people that get off of these platforms the better their mental health would be.
The harms from social media are WAY worse than smoking or alcohol and is unregulated. I am a conservative and against regulation, but this money grab by major tech giants at the expense of humans well being has got to end.
And then there's the correlation between spending too much time on Slashdot and... whatever this is.
Fake "friendships", no conversation, just people soapboxing a paragraph or two to 300 people who will skim over it or ignore it if its not a topic they have in common. Very dull, time consuming to follow, when following the writings of 300 people consumes so much spare time.
The old fashioned way was better, when you talked with people, instead of talking at them as with "social" media, and learned what they liked to talk about and learned to converse with them.
I only get depressed when I visit the comments section
Sig. Sig. Sputnik
There might be a semi objective measure for depression.
Q. How much do you use social media?
Add up the points from the following items. If you score more than 10 points, you've discovered what is contributing to your problem.
* If you use Facebook, add 500 points.
* If you use Twitter, add 275 points.
* If you use Instagram add 425 points.
* If you use WhatsApp add 300 points.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
... depressing.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
As much of Social Media is a lie to begin with.
Plenty of folks use the various platforms to brag or show how amazing and fulfilling their lives are when, it's usually nothing more than staged fantasy.
Many folks don't see it for what it is and it then becomes a digital version of keeping up with the Jonses.
Unless they, too, partake in the charade, they can't possibly keep up which causes anxiety, depression and other issues.
this.
Do Slashdot topics follow xkcd themes, or rather Randall Munroe reads Slashdot ?
Damn, that's depressing. I'm depressed and lonely. If only I used social media, I'd at least have a way to be less depressed and lonely by stopping. But I don't, so I guess I'm stuck this way.
Pound! Bang! Bin! Bash! is this a shell script or a Batman comic?
I used to post a lot on FB (mostly political/philosophical topics), then quit, months later went back again, slowly started posting again a lot, then quit again. It's like when you stop smoking the smoke suffocates you and you wonder how you ever could, but you know there is something about it that could get you hooked again if you don't stay away.
Honestly, if people who live on facebook and spend 6+ hours a day on TV would grow increasingly depressed and kill themselves, how is that a loss for Humanity?
I don't dislike them personally, but c'mon: what are those - likely tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions world wide - contributing?
-Styopa
Know what else causes depression? Depressing shit. Social media is a mirror held up to real life, (perhaps an incredibly twisted, deceptive, fun-house mirror, but still a mirror,) and if you find shit in real life depressing, (and who the fuck wouldn’t?) you’re likely to find what you see in the mirror that IS social media depressing too. In other words, “well, DUH...”
Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.