how does social media cause depression essay

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How Does Social Media Play a Role in Depression?

Nadra Nittle is a journalist who has written articles in publications including NBC News, The Guardian, Vox, and Civil Eats.

Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Verywell / Catherine Song

What to Know About Clinical Depression

Causation or correlation.

• Less Social Media, Less FOMO

Why Young People Are at Risk

• Bad News and ‘Doomscrolling’

Safely Using Social Media

By some estimates, roughly 4 billion people across the world use networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This usage has prompted mental health experts to investigate whether the enormous popularity of social media plays a role in depression.

Research suggests that people who limit their time on social media tend to be happier than those who don’t. Studies also indicate that social media may trigger an array of negative emotions in users that contribute to or worsen their depression symptoms.

U.S. Surgeon General Warning

In May 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory to call attention to the effects of social media on youth mental health. He notes that at crucial periods of adolescent brain development, social media use is predictive of decreases in life satisfaction, as well as additional concerns around body image, sleep issues, and much more.

Given that essentially all adolescents are now using social media in some form, he stresses the importance of further research.

Clinical depression or major depressive disorder is a mood disorder characterized by ongoing feelings of sadness and loss of interest in activities that an individual once enjoyed.

Depression can be mild or severe and make it difficult for those with the condition to concentrate, sleep or eat well, make decisions, or complete their normal routines.

People with depression may contemplate death or suicide, feel worthless, develop anxiety or have physical symptoms such as fatigue or headaches. Psychotherapy and medication are some of the treatments for depression. Limiting time on social media and prioritizing real-world connections can be beneficial to mental health.

The Facts on Social Media and Depression

• Social media has never been more popular, with more than half of the world's population active on these networking sites that roll out nonstop news, much of it negative.
• A Lancet study publbished in 2018 found that people who check Facebook late at night were more likely to feel depressed and unhappy.
• Another 2018 study found that the less time people spend on social media, the less symptoms of depression and loneliness they felt.
• A 2015 study found that Facebook users who felt envy while on the networking site were more likely to develop symptoms of depression.

Some studies about social media and mental health reveal that there’s a correlation between networking sites and depression. Other research goes a step further, finding that social media may very well cause depression. A landmark study—“No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression”—was published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology in 2018.

The study found that the less people used social media, the less depressed and lonely they felt.

This indicates a relationship between lower social media use and emotional wellbeing. According to the researchers, the study marked the first time scientific research established a causal link between these variables.

“Prior to this, all we could say was that there is an association between using social media and having poor outcomes with wellbeing,” said study coauthor Jordyn Young in a statement.

To establish the link between social media and depression, the researchers assigned 143 University of Pennsylvania students to two groups: one could use social media with no restrictions, while the second group had their social media access limited to just 30 minutes on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat combined over a three-week period.

Each study participant used iPhones to access social media and the researchers monitored their phone data to ensure compliance. The group with restricted social media access reported lower severity of depression and loneliness than they had at the beginning of the study.

Both groups reported a drop in anxiety and fear of missing out (FOMO), apparently because joining the study made even the group with unrestricted access to social media more cognizant of how much time they were spending on it.

Less Social Media, Less FOMO 

It’s not certain why participants who only spent 30 minutes daily on social media experienced less depression, but researchers suggest that these young people were spared from looking at content—such as a friend’s beach vacation, grad school acceptance letter, or happy family—that might make them feel bad about themselves.

Taking in the photos or posts of people with seemingly “perfect” lives can make social media users feel like they just don’t measure up. A 2015 University of Missouri study found that regular Facebook users were more likely to develop depression if they felt feelings of envy on the networking site.

Social media can also give users a case of FOMO, for example, if they were invited on their friend’s beach vacation but couldn’t go for some reason. Or if the friend didn’t ask them on the trip at all, users might feel hurt and left out to see that others in their social circle were. It can lead them to question their friendships or their own self-worth.

Social media users who visit an ex’s social media page and see pictures of their former partner wining and dining a new love interest can also experience FOMO. They might wonder why their ex never took them to such fancy restaurants or lavished them with gifts.

Ultimately, limiting one’s time on social media can mean less time spent comparing oneself to others. This can extend to not thinking badly of oneself and developing the symptoms that contribute to depression.

Prior to social media and the internet, children only had to worry about bullying on school grounds, for the most part. But social media has given bullies a new way to torment their victims.

With just one click, bullies can circulate a video of their target being ridiculed, beaten up, or otherwise humiliated. People can swarm a peer’s social media page, leaving negative comments or spreading misinformation. In some cases, victims of bullying have committed suicide.

While many schools have anti-bullying policies and rules about online student conduct, it can still be difficult for educators and parents to monitor abusive behavior on social media.

Worsening matters is that the victims of bullies often fear that the bullying will increase if they speak to a parent, teacher, or administrator about their mistreatment. This can make a child feel even more isolated and go without the emotional support they need to handle a toxic and potentially volatile situation. 

If you or someone you care about is having suicidal thoughts, contact the  National Suicide Prevention Lifeline  at  988  for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.

For more mental health resources, see our  National Helpline Database .

Bad News and ‘Doomscrolling’ 

One in five Americans now get their news from social media—a 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, one’s 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 one’s 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.

Psychologist Amelia Aldao told NPR that doomscrolling locks the public into a “vicious cycle of negativity.” The cycle continues because “our minds are wired to look out for threats,” she said. “The more time we spend scrolling, the more we find those dangers, the more we get sucked into them, the more anxious we get.” Before long, the world appears to be an altogether gloomy place, making doomscrollers feel increasingly hopeless.

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Using social media comes with mental health risks, but that doesn’t mean it should be completely avoided. Experts recommend using these networking websites in moderation.

Set a timer when you’re on social media or install an app on your phone or computer that tracks how long you’ve spent on a networking site.

Without these timers or apps, it’s easy to spend hours on social media before you know it. To limit your time on social media, you can also plan real-world activities that help you focus on your immediate surroundings and circumstances. Read a book, watch a movie, go for a stroll, play a game, bake some bread, or have a phone conversation with a friend. Make the time to enjoy life offline.  

Kemp S. More than half of the people on Earth now use social media .

" Social Media and Youth Mental Healt h," The US Surgeon General's Advisory, May 2023.

Lyall LM, Wyse CA, Graham N, et al. Association of disrupted circadian rhythmicity with mood disorders, subjective wellbeing, and cognitive function: A cross-sectional study of 91 105 participants from the UK Biobank . Lancet Psychiatry.  2018;5(6):507-514. doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30139-1

Hunt MG, Marx R, Lipson C, Young J. No more FOMO: Limiting social media decreases loneliness and depression . J Soc Clin Psychol.  2018;37(10):751-768. doi:10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751

Tandoc EC, Ferrucci P, Duffy M. Facebook use, envy, and depression among college students: Is facebooking depressing? Comput Hum Behav. 2015;43:139-146. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2014.10.053

Limbana T, Khan F, Eskander N, Emamy M, Jahan N. The association of bullying and suicidality: Does it affect the pediatric population?   Cureus . 2020;12(8). doi:10.7759/cureus.9691

Shearer E. Social media outpaces print newspapers in the U.S. as a news source . Pew Research Center.

Garcia-Navarro L. National Public Radio. Your 'doomscrolling' breeds anxiety. Here's how to stop the cycle .

By Nadra Nittle Nadra Nittle is a Los Angeles-based journalist and author. She has covered a wide range of topics, including health, education, race, consumerism, food, and public policy, throughout her career.  

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Does Social Media Use Increase Depressive Symptoms? A Reverse Causation Perspective

Andree hartanto.

1 Singapore Management University, Singapore, Singapore

Frosch Y. X. Quek

Germaine y. q. tng, jose c. yong.

2 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

According to the World Health Organization ( 1 ), 264 million individuals worldwide suffer from depression—a condition characterized by feelings of low self-worth, impaired concentration, and disturbed sleep, among various other maladaptive symptoms ( 2 ). Adolescents between 13 and 18 years of age are also vulnerable ( 3 ), with a 52% increase in the prevalence of depression among adolescents from 2005 to 2017 ( 4 ). 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 ( 5 – 7 ).

Researchers seeking to understand this prevalence of depression in modern society have identified social media use as a key risk factor ( 8 , 9 ). Underscoring the ubiquity of social media in people's lives today, 3.8 billion people in the world are active users of at least one social networking site ( 10 ). Cross-sectional and correlational trend analyses appear to show increases in depression rates alongside increased social media engagement [( 9 , 11 – 14 ); also see ( 15 ), for a contrasting result]. Although the link between social media use and depression is contentious ( 16 , 17 ), several have nonetheless implicated social media as pervasive and detrimental to psychological well-being. For instance, some studies have been argued that social media may harm users by exposing them to negative stimuli such as unwholesome content, cyberbullying, unhealthy social comparisons, and feelings of inferiority ( 18 , 19 ).

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 ( 20 ), where the third-person effect in which individuals overattribute certain behaviors to the influence of mass communication ( 21 ) is a possible catalyst. Having such a convenient culprit for depression seriously oversimplifies our understanding of the etiology surrounding social media and depression ( 12 ).

Several lines of reasoning also suggest that the direction of social media causing depression might instead be reversed. The heavy reliance on correlational data severely limits our ability to infer directionality and argue that exposure to social media causes depression ( 11 , 22 ). Some theories also indicate that depressive symptoms drive social media use. According to the theory of compensatory internet use ( 23 ), people may view online activities such as social media as a means to alleviate negative feelings or fulfill unmet psychosocial needs. For example, an individual suffering from depressive symptoms may turn to social networking sites for social validation through gaining likes and followers. The sociocognitive model of internet addiction ( 24 ) similarly proposes that because online and social media stimuli can be psychologically rewarding, people are incentivized to stay engaged, but those with poorer self-regulation (e.g., individuals with psychological disorders) are especially susceptible to developing harmful social media habits. The tendency for social media use to be precipitated by psychosocial problems like low self-esteem, insecurity, and depression also makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. As highly social creatures, humans evolved a desire for belonging and social acceptance ( 25 ), which is facilitated by social monitoring motives to detect cues for social approval or rejection ( 26 ). Individuals who are insecure about being accepted are motivated to seek information that may reaffirm their social status, leading to an obsession with social comparisons and other social diagnostic cues ( 27 ). Thus, the evolutionary perspective suggests that social media can hijack our evolved tendency to monitor for social cues and perceive social information as rewarding ( 28 ), and depressed individuals are especially vulnerable to being sucked in by social media as they experience a stronger need to alleviate feelings of insecurity, low self-worth, or hopelessness. These arguments from multiple perspectives provide compelling justification to take the reverse association more seriously.

Evidence for Reverse Causality in the Relationship between Social Media and Depressive Symptoms

Considering that increased social media use may be an outcome of depressiveness rather than an antecedent, what does the available data show? Here, we critically examine the literature and consider the evidence from longitudinal and experimental studies.

Longitudinal Findings

While longitudinal designs alone do not provide grounds for causal conclusions, they at least allow the temporal ordering of key variables to be determined ( 29 ). Several recent longitudinal studies show null or even disconfirming evidence for social media as a precedent of depression. For instance, Jensen et al. ( 30 ) found that baseline frequency of social media use did not predict increased daily depressive symptoms at 1- to 2-year follow-up in a demographically representative sample of adolescents. More prolonged studies spanning 8 or 9 years have further corroborated the view that frequency of social media use does not longitudinally predict depressive symptoms in adolescents even when studied across developmental periods from adolescence to young adulthood ( 31 , 32 ). Further, using a longitudinal panel design on a sample of American adults, Hampton ( 33 ) showed that social media use was in fact associated with reduced psychological distress due to the social opportunities afforded by social networking sites.

Some recent longitudinal studies have also shown that depressive symptoms may precede escalated social media use. For instance, Heffer et al. ( 34 ) followed samples of adolescents and undergraduates over 2 and 6 years, respectively, and demonstrated that depressive symptoms preceded increased social media use among female adolescents, while social media usage did not precede depressive symptoms across both samples. Similarly, Raudsepp and Kais's ( 35 ) 2-year study of adolescent girls revealed that baseline levels of depressive symptoms predicted problematic social media use, whereas prior social media use did not predict depressive symptoms. Examining the within-person effects of depressive symptoms on increased social media use over 6 years during early and late adolescence, Puukko et al. ( 36 ) found that depressive symptoms predicted increases in social media use for both boys and girls. Conversely, social media use was not found to predict depressive symptoms.

A bidirectional relationship may also exist due to a cascading feedback loop whereby depression engenders compensatory social media use, which in turn aggravates depressive symptoms due to unhealthy social comparisons and other detrimental forms of social interaction ( 37 , 38 ). Raudsepp ( 39 ) pointed to this bidirectionality by showing that problematic social media use (i.e., using social media in an unhealthy or maladaptive manner) predicted depressive symptoms over a span of 2 years. Thus, researchers who focus only on the depressive effect of social media use may neglect important predisposing factors that cause certain individuals to use social media problematically. Together, the longitudinal evidence suggests that claims that exposure to social media leads to depressive symptoms might be exaggerated, and the reverse relationship whereby depressiveness prompts more (and unhealthy) social media use has been overlooked.

Experimental Findings

Although longitudinal designs can ascertain temporal ordering, they do not rule out confounding or third variables that may influence or obscure the relationship between depressive symptoms and social media engagement. Meta-analyses of cross-sectional studies on social media use and depression also report small pooled effect sizes ( 9 , 11 , 12 ), suggesting the presence of extraneous variables. To address issues of causality and control, we consider experimental research on the social media-depression link.

Most if not all experimental studies of this relationship have manipulated social media use to isolate their effects on depression-related outcomes, probably because (1) this is easier to do than the reverse—manipulating participants' depressiveness and observing their social media behavior, and (2) the approach of blaming social media dominates over other theoretical approaches. However, experimental results do not support the view that social media use increases depression-related outcomes. For instance, Hall et al. ( 40 ) manipulated social media use by randomly assigning undergraduates to varying durations of abstinence (0, 2, 3, and 4 weeks) and found that social media abstention did not account for changes in loneliness or subjective well-being [see ( 41 ) for similar finding]. Moreover, Vally and D'Souza ( 42 ) showed that a week-long abstinence from social media led to reduced life satisfaction and increased negative affect and perceived stress.

Other experiments suggest that regulated usage rather than complete abstinence may be key to managing the psychological effects of social media. For example, Hunt et al. ( 43 ) demonstrated that limiting social media use to 30 min daily alleviated loneliness and depressive symptoms over a span of 3 weeks. Pointing to the modulating role of individual differences, Turel et al. ( 44 ) found that a week of social media abstinence reduced perceived stress levels, but only for excessive social media users. This result highlights the importance of accounting for antecedents of problematic social media use, such as depressive tendencies or other predispositions, otherwise psychological outcomes as a function of social media use remains unclear.

Discussion and Future Directions

The modern pervasiveness of social media use has prompted considerable research effort to understand its psychological repercussions. Much of this work is lamentably correlational, but despite the inability to deduce causality from such data, many researchers have proceeded to point at social media for today's increased rates of depression while ignoring the reverse possibility that depressiveness may, in fact, explain increased social media use. As we described, longitudinal and experimental methods that allow us to probe temporality and causality reveal not so much that social media triggers depressive symptoms, but more so that (1) initial levels of depression-related symptoms predict prospective social media use, and (2) social media engagement that is already problematic (i.e., unhealthy usage caused by some other antecedent factor) exacerbates depression-related outcomes.

To achieve a fuller picture of the social media-depression link as well as a better understanding of how to combat depression, research needs to move toward a deeper analysis of the factors underlying problematic social media activity, such as risk factors for depression that lead to unhealthy social media use. Some considerations include the tendency for individuals with certain predispositions (e.g., depression, low self-esteem, perfectionism) to view social media as a means to reaffirm their self-worth through social comparisons and seeking social validation ( 23 ). More severely depressed or stressed individuals may also view social media as a means of escape and spend excessive periods of time aimlessly browsing social networking sites ( 45 ). It is thus necessary to understand the factors that push individuals toward unhealthy social media behavior, in which social media use is more a symptom than a cause.

Although emerging research hints at the role of depression in maladaptive social media use, the available data is meager given the lack of studies guided by the reverse causal direction. Aside from broadly calling for more tests of the effects of depressive symptoms on social media use, we also offer several specific suggestions for further research. First, longitudinal studies should go beyond general measures of social media use (e.g., frequency) and examine more fine-grained, qualitative features of social media participation, such as purposes of use, active vs. passive engagement, and degree of addiction or problematic use, which have exhibited asynchronous associations with depressive symptoms ( 46 ). For instance, depressive mood has been found to be associated less with active social media use (e.g., commenting, messaging) and more with passive social media use [e.g., scrolling; ( 47 )]. Second, although retrospective self-reports of adolescents' social media use are most commonly employed, they may be biased and suffer from underestimation ( 48 ). Hence, future longitudinal work should employ objective data logs or screen-time apps as measures of social media frequency ( 49 ). Third, longitudinal studies should follow participants over a longer time span and incorporate multiple time points ( 50 ) to provide a sufficient window for substantive changes in social media use. Fourth, experimental studies manipulating social media abstention should include an equivalent “placebo abstinence” condition to adjust for extraneous confounds, such as expectancies and loss of personal control ( 51 ). Lastly, given the considerable implications of findings from this research direction for adolescents' technology-use regulations and mental health, it is crucial that scholars embrace open scientific practices, such as pre-registration and utilization of the open science framework, to encourage future replications and rigorous reviews that can advance our understanding of how social media use and depressive symptoms are connected ( 52 ).

In conclusion, the current paper argued that the reverse causal view that depressiveness drives social media use has been neglected in current research. By emphasizing the need for longitudinal and experimental approaches to ascertain directionality, a better grasp of the dynamics that govern depressive symptoms and maladaptive social media use can be attained.

Author Contributions

AH conceptualized the manuscript. AH, FQ, GT, and JY wrote the manuscript and contributed to critical revision of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Funding. This research was supported by the Ministry of Education Academy Research Fund Tier 1, awarded to AH by Singapore Management University (20-C242-SMU-001).

Loyola University > Center for Digital Ethics & Policy > Research & Initiatives > Essays > Archive > 2018 > The Role of Social Media in Adolescent/Teen Depression and Anxiety

The role of social media in adolescent/teen depression and anxiety, april 3, 2018.

The adolescent and teen years have always been a challenging time. Peer pressure, insecurity and hormones are just some of the issues facing those in these age groups. But does social media exacerbate these problems?

For example, researchers from the Alberta Teachers’ Association, the University of Alberta, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School released a  study  that found significant changes in students at every grade level as a result of digital technology. In the past three to five years, 90 percent of teachers at the University of Alberta saw increases in emotional challenges, 85 percent saw social challenges and 77 percent observed cognitive challenges. Also, 56 percent of teachers report an increase in the number of kids sharing stories about online harassment and/or cyberbullying. There are increases in other areas as well. The majority of teachers say there has been an increase in students diagnosed with the following conditions: anxiety disorders (85 percent), ADD and ADHD (75 percent), and such mood disorders as depression (73 percent).

Also, a recent  study  by researchers at the Royal Society for Public Health and Young Health Movement found that 91 percent of those between the ages of 16 and 24 said Instagram was the worst social media platform as it relates to mental health. Instagram was most likely to cause negative effects such as poor body image, fear of missing out and sleep deprivation. Snapchat came in second place, followed by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The researchers theorize that Instagram and Snapchat are image-focused platforms and users compare themselves to others.

A  review  of 36 social media studies, published in JAMA Pediatrics, found that 23 percent of kids are victims of cyberbullying. The review also found that cyberbullying results in low self-esteem, depression, self-harm and behavioral problems — in both the victims and the bullies. In addition, cyberbullying was more likely to produce suicidal thoughts than traditional bullying.

Another  study , conducted by researchers at Glasgow University found that kids (some of whom were pre-teens) were on social media until the wee morning hours, and some were on more than one device (for example, a phone and a tablet) so they could simultaneously view multiple sites. These individuals reported lower sleep quality rates in addition to higher levels of depression and anxiety.

In a  survey  by the National Campaign to Support Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, almost 20 percent of teens admitted to participating in "sexting" or sending nude photos.

The pressure these adolescents and teens feel can be intensified by the time they get to college. Stanford University coined the phrase “ Duck syndrome ” to describe the erroneous attitude of incoming freshmen that they’re struggling while everyone else is gliding along smoothly — but in reality, the gliders are also “paddling furiously under the water just to keep up.” Adolescents and teens become accustomed to creating the impression that everything is perfect to match the equally perfect posts of their friends. But it becomes too difficult to maintain this façade, resulting in  suicide  among college students who appear to be well-adjusted, but are actually experiencing mental and emotional problems.

Another  report , published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, reveals that among young adults between the ages of 19 and 32, those with high social media usage (those logging on for more than 2 hours a day and checking their accounts 58 times a week) were more likely to deal with feelings of isolation than those with low social media use (they logged on for 30 minutes and checked their accounts 9 times a week). 

In light of these studies, who is responsible for the role of social media in adolescent/teen depression and anxiety?

Many tech leaders seem to understand the unhealthy, addictive nature of technology in general and social media in particular. As far back as 2010, New York Times reporter Nick Bilton  interviewed  the late Steve Jobs of Apple. Jobs told Bilton that he limited the amount of technology that his kids use. Bill Gates  shared  that he didn’t let his kids have mobile devices until they were 14 years old, and he sets a time for them to turn off the devices at night.  

Evan Williams, one of the founders of Twitter, Medium and Blogger, told Bilton that his kids read physical books instead of using iPads. Dick Costolo, former CEO of Twitter, told Bilton that his teenagers had to be in the living room when they used their tech devices.

But, perhaps the most shocking revelation came from Sean Parker, former president of Facebook, in an  interview  with Axios. Referring to Facebook, Parker said, “God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.”

But there’s more. Parker also said, “ . . . How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible? . . . And that means that we need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever . . . And that's going to get you to contribute more content, and that's going to get you ... more likes and comments . . . It's a social-validation feedback loop ... exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you're exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology . . . The inventors, creators — it's me, it's Mark [Zuckerberg], it's Kevin Systrom on Instagram, it's all of these people — understood this consciously . . . And we did it anyway.”

So, if Parker confessed that social media was designed to be addictive, should social media companies be responsible for depression, anxiety, bullying and other issues among adolescents and teens?

Donna Shea, director of  The Peter Pan Center  for Social and Emotional Growth, and Nadine Briggs, director of  Simply Social Kids , are passionate about helping kids make and keep friends, and together have formed How to Make and Keep Friends, LLC. Shea and Briggs both lead community-based social groups at their centers in Massachusetts and have also formed the Social Success in School initiative. The two have also written several books for kids and teens, including, “Tips for Teens on Life and Social Success” .

Both Shea and Briggs believe that it is the job of parents to monitor their kid’s social media activity. “You wouldn’t allow your teen to put a lock on their bedroom door, but your teen is not only now interacting with peers at school or in your neighborhood, they are interacting with the entire world,” Shea said. “It is a parent’s job to be as involved in their teen’s online life as they are in their offline life.”

In fact, she is not in favor of giving adolescents and teens a phone as a gift. “Mobile devices belong to the parent and the teen is being  allowed  to use it,” Shea said. “A contract can be a useful tool before putting a device in the hands of your teen which would allow parents to have access to the phone.”

She believes that parents should monitor their adolescent/teen’s activity — and teens should know this is being done. “Parents do not need to be sneaky about that — tell your child to hand over the phone,” she said. Shea also recommends that parents use subscription services to view all of their teens’ activities. “Teens should be prepared to be monitored until they are of legal adult age,” she said.

However, Briggs admits that apps change so quickly that it’s almost impossible to keep up with them. “Other than doing your best to monitor your teen’s activity —  and it won’t be 100% effective - it’s important from the very beginning that you teach your child and teen to be good consumers of what is available to them,” Briggs said. “This is the new norm, and we think it’s the parent’s responsibility to be involved in their teen’s online life.”

She compares giving kids a phone or device to putting them behind the wheel of a car. “Both can be dangerous in their own way, but teens can learn the responsibilities that go along with these more adult activities.”

But, do parents bear sole responsibility? For example, everyone knows that tobacco is bad for your health, and people consume it willingly; however, they continue to sue and win lawsuits against tobacco companies. In 2014, one plaintiff was  awarded $23.6 billion  when her husband died of lung cancer as a result of smoking up to three packs of cigarettes a day. He started smoking at the age of 13 and died at the age of 36. The plaintiff (his widow) argued that the tobacco company willfully deceived consumers with addictive products.

How is this scenario different from what social media companies are doing? And speaking of willful deception, what about companies that make  secretive apps  that allow teens to hide their sexting?

If someone trips and falls on your property, you could be sued. If someone gets harmed at your nightclub, you could be held liable for not having “adequate security.” If one of your employees sexually harasses a colleague, you would be held responsible — even if you didn’t know about it. If you sell alcohol, you’re responsible for making sure it doesn’t get into the hands of a minor. In fact, according to the Dram Shop Law, if you let an adult have too many drinks and this individual is involved in an accident, you could be responsible.

However, if kids become addicted to a communication platform that was designed to be addictive, if they’re bullied online, if there are no safeguards to stop them from utilizing the types of secretive apps that encourage risky behavior, shouldn’t these companies be held responsible?

I think they should be, but this is not likely to happen until society holds them responsible. Since most adults are also addicted to social media — and some of them are internet bullies and engage in sexting, it seems unlikely that they would advocate for changes.

In the aforementioned study by the Royal Society for Public Health and Young Health Movement, researchers offered several ways to reduce some of the problems adolescents and teens face online. For example, one of the reasons kids feel so much pressure to look perfect is because of the doctored photos they see. The researchers recommend that social media companies include some sort of notification, such as a watermark, when photos have been digitally manipulated (68 percent of surveyed students support this action).

Another suggestion is to create a social media cap. Users would be logged out if they went over a pre-determined usage level (30 percent of surveyed students agree with this suggestion).

The majority of surveyed students (84 percent) approve of schools having classes on safe social media. 

Another suggestion by the researchers (which did not include student responses) was to use social media posts to identify kids and teens who might be at risk for mental health problems. However, problems have already been identified with  using Facebook to identity potential problem drinkers .

In addition, it was suggested that youth workers be trained in digital media. 

These are nice Band-Aid solutions. But they don’t address the addictive nature of social media and the incredible amount of peer pressure that it involves. Parents can provide guidance, but history has shown that their values rarely outweigh the pressure of peers.

Albert Einstein once said, “We can’t solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.” But in this situation, the social media giants can solve these problems with the exact same thinking they used to create them. Just as they figured out what it would take to make these platforms addictive, they can figure out what it would take to make the platforms less addictive. But don’t hold your breath because the person who creates the problem and profits from the problem has no incentive to solve the problem.

Terri Williams  writes for a variety of clients including USA Today , Yahoo , U.S. News & World Report , The Houston Chronicle , Investopedia , and Robert Half . She has a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Follow her on Twitter @Territoryone .

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Social Media and Depression Symptoms: a Meta-Analysis

• Published: 06 January 2021
• Volume 49 , pages 241–253, ( 2021 )

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• Simone Cunningham   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4179-2812 1 ,
• Chloe C. Hudson 1 &
• Kate Harkness 1  

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Social Networking Sites (SNS) have close to 3 billion users worldwide. Recently, however, SNS have come under media scrutiny for their potential association with depression. Two previous meta-analyses failed to find evidence for a robust concurrent association between SNS use and depression symptoms. However, these analyses focused primarily on the time spent using SNS. The current meta-analysis is the first to consider the multi-dimensional nature of SNS use, and examines separately the quantitative associations of depression symptoms to SNS use in three types of SNS studies examining three distinct constructs of SNS use: time spent using SNS, intensity of SNS use, and problematic SNS use. Sixty-two studies ( N  = 451, 229) met inclusion criteria. Depression symptoms were significantly, but weakly, associated with time spent using SNS ( r  = 0.11) and intensity of SNS use ( r  = 0.09). However, the association of depression symptoms to problematic SNS use was moderate ( r  = 0.29), was significantly higher than for time spent using SNS ( Q between  = 35.85, p  < 0.001) or intensity of SNS use ( Q between  = 13.95, p  < 0.001), and was not significantly moderated by age, gender, year of study publication, or mode of recruitment. These results suggest that future research examining causal models of the relation of SNS use and depression, as well as research on intervention and prevention, should focus in more detail on individuals who are engaging in a pattern of problematic SNS use.

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The association between self-reported depressive symptoms and the use of social networking sites (SNS): A meta-analysis

The Relationship Between Problematic Social Media Use and Depression: A Meta-Analysis Study

Problematic use of five different social networking sites is associated with depressive symptoms and loneliness

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Cunningham, S., Hudson, C.C. & Harkness, K. Social Media and Depression Symptoms: a Meta-Analysis. Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol 49 , 241–253 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-020-00715-7

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Accepted : 29 September 2020

Published : 06 January 2021

Issue Date : February 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-020-00715-7

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January 16, 2020

Does Social Media Cause Depression?

The answer’s not black-and-white

By Jade Wu Savvy Psychologist

Getty Images

Is there a link between social media and depression? Do Facebook and Instagram have a negative impact on your mental health? It’s complicated.

Sometimes, scrolling through Instagram just makes you feel bad. You try not to envy your friends, but they always seem to be traveling somewhere cool, eating something fancy, or looking cute in perfect just-rolled-out-of-bed hair.

On the other hand, there are times when you laugh at funny memes, catch up with old friends, and feel happy to belong to fun social media communities. Clearly, social media isn’t all bad.

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Does social media cause depression? Is it bad for your mental health?

People are increasingly opinionated about the potential problems of social media. Things like cyberbullying, screen addiction, and being exposed to endless filtered images that make it impossible not to make comparisons between yourself and others often make the news.

In July, a big study came out in the uber-prestigious journal JAMA. It was titled “ Association of Screen Time and Depression in Adolescence .” This big headline seemed to confirm what a lot of people have been saying—that screen time is horrible for young people.

The study followed over 3800 adolescents over four years as part of a drug and alcohol prevention program. Part of what the investigators measured was the teens’ amount of screen time, including time spent on social media, as well as their levels of depression symptoms. One of their main findings was that higher amounts of social media use were associated with higher levels of depression. That was true both when the researches compared between people and compared each person against their own mental health over time.

Case closed? Not so fast. Before we end the debate once and for all, let’s take a closer look at this and other studies. Let’s ask ourselves: What exactly is the relationship between social media use and depression? It turns out there are several caveats.

»Continue reading “Does Social Media Cause Depression? It’s Complicated” on QuickAndDirtyTips.com