Teens' social media use does not raise risk for depression

August 12, 2020

Science Daily/Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

Contrary to popular wisdom, daily social media use is not a strong or consistent risk factor for depressive symptoms among adolescents, according to a new study by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researchers. The results are published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

"Increasingly, teenagers are active on social media, particularly during the pandemic, as they have to rely on Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms to stay in touch with friends," says first author Noah Kreski, MPH, who conducted the research as a practicum project as a Columbia Mailman School student and currently works as a data analyst in the Department of Epidemiology. "While some adults have voiced concerns over the potential mental health risks of this behavior, our research finds no compelling evidence to suggest that social media use meaningfully increases adolescents' risk of depressive symptoms."

The researchers analyzed survey data collected by Monitoring the Future, an ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of Americans from adolescence through adulthood, representing 74,472 8th and 10th grade students between 2009 to 2017. They assessed depressive symptoms to establish underlying depression risk, which they controlled for in their analysis to understand how daily social media use might contribute to depression.

Daily social media use among 8th and 10th grade students increased from 61 percent to 89 percent among girls, and from 46 percent to 75 percent among boys, from 2009 to 2017. Daily social media use was not associated with depressive symptoms after accounting for the fact that the adolescents who frequently use social media have worse mental health to begin with. However, among girls who had the lowest risk for depressive symptoms, daily social media use was weakly associated with symptoms, though due to low risk, the overall prevalence of symptoms in that group was small. Among boys, daily social media use was not linked to increased depressive symptoms, and some evidence suggested that daily social media use may actually be protective against depression.

"Daily social media use does not capture the diverse ways in which adolescents use social media, which may be both positive and negative depending on the social context," says senior author Katherine Keyes, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School. "Future research could explore the specific behaviors and experiences of young people using social media, as well as more frequent engagement with the various platforms."

Background on Adolescent Depression and Social Media Use

After almost 50 years of stability, recent evidence has indicated unprecedented increases in adolescent depression, depressive symptoms, and suicidal behavior, particularly among girls. There has been widespread speculation that increasing use of smartphones and social media has contributed to these trends. Proponents of this hypothesis note that adolescents are increasingly isolated from face-to-face interaction, experience cyber-bullying, and face challenges to self-esteem and self-worth through curated online images of peers. On the other hand, social media is often a positive outlet, and its use may have positive effects on adolescent self-esteem. Social networking sites provide a space for content that is positive or humorous, particularly valuable to adolescents who are depressed. Many young people seek out support and advice on social media, particularly those with moderate to severe depressive symptoms.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200812094844.htm

Overall time on social media is not related to teen anxiety and depression

Eight-year study shows screen time isn't the problem

October 22, 2019

Science Daily/Brigham Young University

The amount of time teenagers spend on social networking sites has risen 62.5 percent since 2012 and continues to grow. Just last year, the average time teenagers spent on social media was estimated as 2.6 hours per day. Critics have claimed that more screen time is increasing depression and anxiety in teenagers.

However, new research led by Sarah Coyne, a professor of family life at Brigham Young University, found that the amount of time spent on social media is not directly increasing anxiety or depression in teenagers.

"We spent eight years trying to really understand the relationship between time spent on social media and depression for developing teenagers," Coyne said about her study published in Computers in Human Behavior. "If they increased their social media time, would it make them more depressed? Also, if they decreased their social media time, were they less depressed? The answer is no. We found that time spent on social media was not what was impacting anxiety or depression."

Mental health is a multi-process syndrome where no one stressor is likely the cause of depression or anxiety. This study shows that it is not merely the amount of time spent on social media that's leading to an increase in depression or anxiety among adolescents.

"It's not just the amount of time that is important for most kids. For example, two teenagers could use social media for exactly the same amount of time but may have vastly different outcomes as a result of the way they are using it," Coyne said.

The goal of this study is to help society as a whole move beyond the screen time debate and instead to examine the context and content surrounding social media use.

Coyne has three suggestions to use social media in healthier ways.

Be an active user instead of a passive user. Instead of just scrolling, actively comment, post and like other content.

Limit social media use at least an hour before falling asleep. Getting enough sleep is one of the most protective factors for mental health.

Be intentional. Look at your motivations for engaging with social media in the first place.

"If you get on specifically to seek out information or to connect with others, that can have a more positive effect than getting on just because you're bored," Coyne said.

In an effort to understand teenagers' mental health and their social media use, researchers worked with 500 youth between the ages of 13 and 20 who completed once-yearly questionnaires over an eight-year span. Social media use was measured by asking participants how much time they spent on social networking sites on a typical day. To measure depression and anxiety, participants responded to questions with different scales to indicate depressive symptoms and anxiety levels. These results were then analyzed on an individual level to see if there was a strong correlation between the two variables.

At age 13, adolescents reported an average social networking use of 31-60 minutes per day. These average levels increased steadily so that by young adulthood, they were reporting upwards of two hours per day. This increase of social networking, though, did not predict future mental health. That is, adolescents' increases in social networking beyond their typical levels did not predict changes in anxiety or depression one year later.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191022174406.htm