Social Media Usage Linked With Anxiety and Depression

Ever since social media has become an inevitable part of human life, the effects of social media usage on the mental and psychological health have become a subject of extensive research. A number of investigations have been carried out to explore the potential risks of using social websites habitually.

The earlier investigations showed that excessive social media usage is linked to anxiety and depression. Social media use can lead to poor sleep quality and can, therefore, aggravate the depression. Another of the studies also showed a close association between social media use and sleep disturbances.

This study was carried out by Dr. Brian Primack and his colleagues at the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine in Pennsylvania and was subsequently published in the journal Depression and Anxiety. The researchers used a questionnaire to investigate the association between depression and social media usage in 1,787 adults between the ages of 19 and 32.

The questionnaire was designed to assess the usage of some of the most widely used social websites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, and other common platforms. A standardized depression assessment tool was used to establish the level of depression.

Social Media Use Leads To Depression

The study came up with astounding results. It was found out that most people use social websites an average of 61 minutes per day, with some spending significantly more time on social media. The weekly usage was found to be 31 times per week. More than 1/4^th of the study participants were found to have high indicators of depression.

People who use social media sites excessively were found to have a 2.7 times higher risk of developing depression and anxiety as compared to those who did not check their social accounts frequently.

The exact cause of how social media usage leads to depression is yet to be found. It was speculated that depression may stem from the fact that most of the people turn to social sites to fill a preexisting void in their lives, which may mean that the same people who excessively use social media were already prone to depression.

It was also postulated that depression and social media use may be linked to each other in a vicious relationship. Social media use leads to depression which leads to more social media use which aggravates the depression and the cycle continues.

Some of the social media sites, like Tumblr, have added safety barriers to help people facing psychological issues. Their filters have been designed to detect the words like “depressed” or “suicidal” and redirect the users to the websites that offer help. Even then, the rate of depression is significantly high among social media users.

The Future Implications

Future studies into the negative mental health impact social media use can have are expected to be directed towards finding the causal relationship between social media use and depression in order to identify people at high risk of depression so that timely help can be given to these people.

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This study might prove to be a milestone to guide public health interventions in order to control depression, which is expected to become one of the leading causes of disability by the year 2030, especially in the developed countries.

According to Dr. Primack, since social media has evolved into an integral part of human interaction and communications, it is essential for clinicians to recognize the fine line that is to be trekked between safe usage and over usage.

Social Media Sites May Be Contributing Towards Psychotic Symptoms

Social media and smartphone use has taken over every aspect of human life and excessive social media usage has been intimately linked with increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression. Evidence, however, also suggests that social networking may be affecting the human brain in more ways than previously thought.

According to the research that was led by Dr. Uri Nitzan of Tel Aviv University and was later on published in Social News Daily, the mental health of social media users becomes vulnerable to detrimental effects. A correlation between excessive social media use and gradual development and aggravation of psychotic symptoms like delusions, anxiety and confusion etc. was established.

Social Media: The Virtual Reality

The study included three case studies to demonstrate the relationship between psychotic episodes and the internet base communications. The patients were found to share some key characteristics including loneliness and vulnerability due to loss or due to separation from a loved one. All the patients were also found to be relatively new to technology and had no previous history of psychosis or substance abuse.

All three patients turned to social media to form virtual relationships in an effort to seek refuge from their lonely situation. Although these relationships started out on positive notes, all of these relationships eventually led to feelings of hurt, betrayal and invasion of privacy. According to Dr. Nitzan, almost all of the patients experienced psychotic symptoms associated with the situation, including delusions about the person they were interacting with on the social media.

Two of the patients began feeling vulnerable owing to the fact that they had shared their personal information on the social media platforms they frequented. One of the patients developed psychotic symptoms like hallucinations about touch, thinking that the person at the other end of the internet connection was touching her in person.

Communication through cyber space can, therefore, lead to feelings of detachment from the people who we know in real life and can harm the authenticity of virtually established relationships on social media.

This is the precise reason why social media sites give a person a false sense of being in a relationship and can prove to be a hindrance when it comes to real-life relationships.

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The Changing Social Horizons

The powerful effect of social media on human beliefs, culture and everyday life is becoming undeniable. Social media has become a power to reckon with since it has the capability of profoundly affecting both users' mental health and users' philosophical beliefs.

This important study has provided a deep insight into the psychological health of people who start living in “virtual cyber space” as a form of escape from a reality they are not content with. Following this study, Dr. Nitzan and his colleagues intend to look further into the emotionally harmful effects of various applications and features of the social websites like Facebook.

According to Dr. Nitzan, it is a very common (and wise) practice for medical providers to ask patients about Facebook and social networking habits including the internet usage. These doctors should keep in mind the fact that people usually tend to act differently on social media from their real live personality and this behavior pattern is extremely important in recognizing the psychotic symptoms of such individuals.

In many ways, social media accounts allow people to create idealized portrayals of their lives that may initially feel good, but that ultimately leave them feeling hollow and lost. Returning to the real world is a key way to improve one's mental health.