Facebook, Twitter usage alone won't cause anxiety, depression: Study

Social media usage including Facebook and Twitter may not necessarily be causing anxiety and depression, according to a new study published by researchers from Brigham Young University in the US. The study published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior highlights the lack of correlation between increasing anxiety or depression in teenagers and the amount of time they spent on social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. However, researchers noted that the amount of time teenagers spend on social media websites has indeed increased significantly since 2012 and it still continues to grow.

'Mental health is a multi-process syndrome'

Researchers noted that depression or anxiety cannot be caused by a single factor as it is dependent on a multi-process syndrome. The study shows that it is not merely the amount of time spent on social media that is leading to an increase in depression or anxiety among adolescents.

"We spent eight years trying to really understand the relationship between time spent on social media and depression for developing teenagers," said Sarah Coyne, a professor at Brigham Young University. "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."

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Methodology

Researchers surveyed 500 youth between the age group of 13 and 20, who completed once-yearly questionnaires over an eight-year span. The amount of social media usage 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 analysed on an individual level to see if there was a strong correlation between the two variables.

"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.

Participants aged 13 reported an average social networking use of 31-60 minutes per day. However, these average levels increased steadily so that by young adulthood, they were reporting upwards of two hours per day. Despite this increase in social media usage, researchers couldn't predict the future mental health of participants.

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(With PTI inputs)