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Using Multiple Social Networks May Lead To Depression and Anxiety, Says Study (dailydot.com) 119

Posted by BeauHD from the one-has-to-draw-the-line-somewhere dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Daily Dot: The more social media you use, the higher the likelihood that you'll be anxious or depressed. At least according to the University of Pittsburgh Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health. In a study published online this month with more than 1,700 millennial adults, it found people who report using seven to 11 social media platforms had more than three times the risk of depression or anxiety than millennials who use zero to two platforms. The participants were asked about the most popular social media platforms in 2014, the year the study was conducted, which included Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine, and LinkedIn. Those who used more than seven platforms showed higher levels of depressive symptoms, even when researchers controlled for factors like race, gender, relationship status, household income, education, and total time spent on social media. Brian A. Primack, lead author of the study, notes that the correlation is not certain. He told PsyPost: "It may be that people who suffer from symptoms of depression or anxiety, or both, tend to subsequently use a broader range of social media outlets. For example, they may be searching out multiple avenues for a setting that feels comfortable and accepting. However, it could also be that trying to maintain a presence on multiple platforms may actually lead to depression and anxiety. More research will be needed to tease that apart."
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Using Multiple Social Networks May Lead To Depression and Anxiety, Says Study More

Using Multiple Social Networks May Lead To Depression and Anxiety, Says Study

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  • causality (Score:3, Insightful)

    by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Tuesday December 20, 2016 @10:36PM (#53527749)

    >"it found people who report using seven to 11 social media platforms had more than three times the risk of depression or anxiety than millennials who use zero to two platforms"

    Oooh, an opportunity for one of my favorite sayings...

        Correlation does not imply causation.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

    Perhaps people who are depressed and anxious seek out more social media.

    • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

      by geekmux ( 1040042 )

      >"it found people who report using seven to 11 social media platforms had more than three times the risk of depression or anxiety than millennials who use zero to two platforms"

      Oooh, an opportunity for one of my favorite sayings...

      Correlation does not imply causation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

      Perhaps people who are depressed and anxious seek out more social media.

      Let's try this again.

      The 99% who follow the elite 1% who champion the narcissistic fuck out of social media platforms are depressed as shit thinking about how droll their lives are.

      Of course, correlation does not imply causation, so naturally all studies and theories (including ours) are immediately excused as total and complete fabricated bullshit.

      • Re:causality (Score:4, Informative)

        by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Tuesday December 20, 2016 @11:08PM (#53527847)

        Of course, correlation does not imply causation, so naturally all studies and theories (including ours) are immediately excused as total and complete fabricated bullshit.

        Nonsense. Observed correlation does not imply causation, but it often indicates it. So, although no one should conclude from this that social media activity causes depression, it does point in that direction. The true test is a controlled experiment that assigns people randomly to either activity on many sites, or limits them to just one, or maybe none. In a properly conducted controlled study, correlation certainly does imply correlation.

        • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

          by Anonymous Coward

          A few years ago, I decided to go on Facebook and look up people I went to high school with.

          All the hot girls are now old, fat, grandmothers.

          It certainly depressed the fuck out of me.

          • Re:causality (Score:5, Interesting)

            by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Wednesday December 21, 2016 @12:13AM (#53528007) Journal

            All the hot girls are now old, fat, grandmothers.

            There's at least one girl I went to high school with who's really held up. One, (I swear to god I'm not making this up) was a stripper for a while and then got a PhD and is now the chair of a sociology department at some small university in California. She looks like she could still get up on that pole after having a couple of cocktails. Back in high school, she was one of them freckle bitches and couldn't get a date for the prom. I ran into her a couple of years later and she was smoking hot. I kicked myself for not being nicer to her back in junior year. She signed my yearbook with a heart. The hot girl that I took to the prom has indeed turned into a fat old grandma. This is why you should teach your sons to be nice to all the girls in school, because you never know who's gonna turn out to be fine as cherry wine.

            I don't know why I'm telling you this. Maybe because I can't post it on Facebook because she'll see it, and anyway I'm too drunk to manage the two-step authentication that I set up for just this kind of situation.

      • The 99% who follow the elite 1% who champion the narcissistic fuck out of social media platforms are depressed as shit thinking about how droll their lives are.

        But does knowing that make some of us feel better about our own lot in life (sure we might have problems, but we're not sad moppets like those people in TFA) in turn? And what further effects might that happiness of ours have on others, such as perhaps making some of them happy that there is still happiness (albeit at someone else's misery over someone else's happiness) to be found in this world.

        I'm not sure how deep the recursion goes, but it might be a net positive.

        • Re: causality (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Get a wife, kids and a full time job. You won't have time to feel sad about how amazing everyone else is because you're too busy being awesome your self. I login to Facebook once a week to remind my self that my life isn't half bad because I'm not on Facebook everyday posting useless information to make my self feel better.

      • Re: causality (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Dull, not droll

        Learn to speak English

    • PLEASE MOD PARENT -1 REDUNDANT (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      In the parent's haste to grab the first post, he failed to even fully read the summary. The summary offers two hypotheses. One is that people with depression use more social media networks in search of acceptance somewhere. The other hypothesis is that the stress caused by social media can lead to anxiety and depression. Although the headline describes one of those hypotheses, both are clearly presented in the summary. Therefore, there is nothing insightful about the parent. Please mod the parent -1 redunda

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by arth1 ( 260657 )

        However, there may also be a feedback. If a person seeks acceptance in a wider variety of social media circles and fails to receive it, that may worsen the depression. The types of interactions by depressed people on social media may actually lead to rejection, especially from people not aware the person is suffering from mental illness. Therefore, it may be a combination of both, and feedback from rejection due to depressed behavior. That's a third hypothesis.

        Or there may be external factors that lead to both increases in depression and anxiety, and increases in social media usage, without either causing the other.
        Being without a job could be one such external factor.
        Going through a loss of a social partner (be it through death or break-up) could be another.

        The main problem I see here is how /. presents the story.

      • Could it also be that people who spend more time in front of a screen are more depressed than those who spend more time interacting with other people face-to-face?

    • "Most of the cats that you meet on the streets speak of true love,
      Most of the time they're sittin' and cryin' at home
      One of these days they know they better get goin'
      Out of the door and down on the streets all alone"

      Some times, ya really need to get out.

    • Correlation does not imply causation. ...
      Perhaps people who are depressed and anxious seek out more social media.

      There was a time, when saying this would have made you seem insightful, but that time is long gone. Surprising as it may be to you, the people who actually work with the scientific study of depression and anxiety are generally capable of thinking about several aspects of their material, and it would be really, really weird if they hadn't already spotted this one, thought it through and realised why the causality doesn't go that way. It's good to be skeptical - that is what scientists are, and that is why fu

      • I'm fine with not RTFAing, but if you RTFS you'd know that the scientists are pointing out that causation could go either way. I find it very plausible that a depressive might immerse himself or herself in social sites.

  • Maybe this explains special snowflakes... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Chas ( 5144 ) on Tuesday December 20, 2016 @10:43PM (#53527771) Homepage Journal

    You know. "It's all me! Me me me!"

    Yet, when all those social networks either ignore them, or unilaterally label them as the byproduct of an unsatisfactory immediate post-insertion premature ejaculation?

    It hurts its widdle feewings!

    • Re:Maybe this explains special snowflakes... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mvdwege ( 243851 ) <mvdwege@mail.com> on Wednesday December 21, 2016 @02:36AM (#53528291) Homepage Journal

      You know what? If there is one generation that is 'Me! Me!' it is the boomers. The generation that found a cure for limp dicks to be more important than not destroying the planet.

      Mart (Gen-X)

      • Your point is on point, but here's a dirty secret about the original Limp Dick Cure:

        "Originally, we were testing sildenafil, the active drug in Viagra, as a cardiovascular drug and for its ability to lower blood pressure,'' Dr. Brian Klee, senior medical director at Pfizer, told French news agency, AFP. "But one thing that was found during those trials is that people didn't want to give the medication back because of the side effect of having erections that were harder, firmer and lasted longer.''"

        They d

        • Let's see...I wear glasses to compensate for problems with my eyesight. I wear hearing aids to compensate for problems with my hearing. Summer before last, I used a cane to compensate for problems with walking. I use....you're probably happier not knowing about that. I take antidepressants to compensate for what are probably biochemical problems in my brain. I'm using all sorts of technology to compensate for things that don't work right with me. What's wrong with extending that to sexual function?

    • Re:Maybe this explains special snowflakes... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Wednesday December 21, 2016 @05:19AM (#53528573) Homepage Journal

      I can never tell if these posts are about liberal millennials or the alt-right. The former is supposed to be obsessed with social media and personal image, the latter complains loudly when their trolling gets them banned or is perceived to impinge on their precious freedom of speech.

      Both seem to be extremely thin-skinned, and in need of safe spaces to protect their feelings. Conservative groups have lists of college professors who offend them now, and demand respect for their views and beliefs. Both live in their own little bubbles and echo chambers. Both whine and complain constantly about hurt feelings and trivialities.

      Without context it's really hard figure out which group you are talking about.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Chas ( 5144 )

        I can never tell if these posts are about liberal millennials or the alt-right. The former is supposed to be obsessed with social media and personal image, the latter complains loudly when their trolling gets them banned or is perceived to impinge on their precious freedom of speech.

        Both seem to be extremely thin-skinned, and in need of safe spaces to protect their feelings. Conservative groups have lists of college professors who offend them now, and demand respect for their views and beliefs. Both live in their own little bubbles and echo chambers. Both whine and complain constantly about hurt feelings and trivialities.

        Without context it's really hard figure out which group you are talking about.

        Why can't the knife cut BOTH WAYS?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Why can't the knife cut BOTH WAYS?

          I guess it could, although I have to say that as a description of millennials it doesn't really seem to fit. Most of them seem resigned to how completely fucked they are, and are just trying to make the best of it.

    • Thanks gramps. Its time for bingo now.

  • Maybe they just couldn't find all the depressed users who aren't on 7 to 11 social networks. Because they're not on social networks.

  • Everyone's saying it, so I will too... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ErichTheRed ( 39327 ) on Tuesday December 20, 2016 @11:10PM (#53527861)

    Correlation does not imply causation. There, now that the elephant in the room has been addressed...

    I can totally see social media leading to depression long term. Seriously, you have an entire set of platforms dedicated to championing narcissism and self promotion. I mentioned this a while back in a post about LinkedIn -- one of the things that drives me nuts is, having LinkedIn contacts from the tech and the business world, I notice the business guys posting the same shallow crap they do on Facebook looking for a circle of positive affirmation.

    Why do I think it makes people depressed and anxious? A couple reasons...
    - It's one-sided -- no one posts about the totally uninteresting, crappy boring parts of their lives. Unless you're rich beyond imagination or a celebrity, everyone will have down moments in their lives, periods of disappointment, and very sad things happen to them.
    - There's a pressure to be "always on" -- Stemming from the one-sided positive view of everything, people who might not be doing so well might feel the pressure to act like everything's fine. Having been there, as everyone has, I can't imagine how that feels in social media happy-land...it sucks in real life! There's a constant pressure to be on 24/7, sharing amazing details of your life. Thinking that everyone except you is doing perfectly is a recipe for depression.
    - The trolls -- Oh, the trolls, the cyberbullies...The Internet in general and social media specifically brings out the worst in people because they feel they're protected from behind the nice safe keyboard. Look at any news site comments section that uses Facebook identities. Now, people who rant on MSN or CNN are a self-selecting bunch, I'll grant you that -- but take a look sometime and see what people post. You'll see some of the most hateful, racist, angry, spiteful, snide commentary...right next to "John Smith, History Teacher, East Nowhere High School." I've had moments where I've thought "No way, that can't be that person's real name and occupation!" -- and then gone to LinkedIn or similar and found out that yes, that history teacher, dental hygienist or business owner really does correspond to the profile. It's (in my opinion) a sad commentary on how un-civil we are to each other.

    Personally, I'm not a big fan. I'd rather blog or post long-form comments on places like this than be constantly tweeting out yet another happy status update to make other people miserable. I enjoy thinking before writing and tend to prefer civil conversations.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by adolf ( 21054 )

      Everyone has moments of downtime. Even the famously rich and/or the richly celebrated. Money can't buy me love, and sad songs aren't usually written by happy people.

      What bothers me most about this study is that it seems that the opposite correlation is also true: Depressed people might have a tendency to cling to more social networks than normal people. This is contrasted with the study's findings, wherein it is presumed that being on more social media networks creates depression.

      Many of us ("us," as in

    • I've had moments where I've thought "No way, that can't be that person's real name and occupation!" -- and then gone to LinkedIn or similar and found out that yes, that history teacher, dental hygienist or business owner really does correspond to the profile. It's (in my opinion) a sad commentary on how un-civil we are to each other.

      People like that have always existed, you just didn't know any of them or ever spend much time around them because you probably didn't frequent the same places and meat space only exposes you to so many people in situations where you can hear those kinds of opinions, but the internet is hardly responsible for any of this. If they weren't posting it to some website, they'd be in a local bar saying the same shit, only to a smaller audience. Trust me, I've seen people make those same kind of rants live and in

    • you would have to be a farely unbalanced individual to feel the need to use that many different forms of social media, would not surprise me if they were already clinically depressed searching for attention/love/acceptance/friends etc

    • - It's one-sided -- no one posts about the totally uninteresting, crappy boring parts of their lives. Unless you're rich beyond imagination or a celebrity, everyone will have down moments in their lives, periods of disappointment, and very sad things happen to them.

      Are you kidding? One of the primary reasons I cannot stomach Facebook is the endless parade of food posts, selfies, religious quotes and other masterbatory re-posts which are the "totally uninteresting, crappy boring parts of their lives". Not everyone needs a bullhorn to inform the world what they had for lunch. It reminds me of that bumper sticker "I pooped today!". And. Yes. So has every healthy person on the planet.

      I would be very interested to see an analysis of what kinds of posts these "depressed" pe

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fisted ( 2295862 )

      Correlation does not imply causation. There, now that the elephant in the room has been addressed...

      TFS addressed that elephant already.

    • - It's one-sided -- no one posts about the totally uninteresting, crappy boring parts of their lives. Unless you're rich beyond imagination or a celebrity, everyone will have down moments in their lives, periods of disappointment, and very sad things happen to them.

      I remember back in the early aughts, when MySpace was still a thing. It seemed like you were just as likely to read an insightful post from an old high school friend about their struggle with cancer, or the mundane aspects of child rearing, or some inane rambling about traffic or global warming. There wasn't the focus on spinning oneself in a positive light. There was even a guy that would post anytime he had a particularly interesting poop (so maybe not civil conversation, but definitely not self-aggrandiz

    • Speaking as someone with overly many decades of dealing with depression, I can see depression leading to use of social media sites.

  • Exposure (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    When you are exposed to that much stupidity it is depressing. When you learn how stupid the majority of people are, it can be quite depressing. This is seen across the entire internet, not just social media.

    I don't use "social media" but it is impossible not to be exposed to it everywhere online now. Sometimes I have to take a break from the internet (including slashdot) because the stupidity gets to me. When I was younger it used to make me very angry and depressed. Eventually I learned I can just "turn it

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Social network? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mejustme ( 900516 ) on Tuesday December 20, 2016 @11:35PM (#53527911)

    Does Slashdot count as "social network?"

    F5'ing the homepage waiting for the next story so I can read through questionable comments may contribute to my depression.

    • Oh, hell no. Slashdot is my trolling network, as I love to troll the trolls here. Keeps me amused while I'm waiting for a script to get done at work. Needless to say, I run a lot of scripts.

      • Oh, hell no. Slashdot is my trolling network, as I love to troll the trolls here. Keeps me amused while I'm waiting for a script to get done at work. Needless to say, I run a lot of scripts.

        Me too. I was running scripts ALL day yesterday. Yep.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      No, Slashdot is an anti-social network. Therefore, lots of slashdotting should make one happy.

    • Does Slashdot count as "social network?"

      This is your brain on Slashdot. Not even once!

    • Unless there is a Slashdot mobile app that you can stare at vacuously while swerving all over the road, then it's not really a "social network".

    • It did for me. I went from thinking "what do I *want* to do," something constructive with positive possibilities, to wondering "when is there going to be something else for me to look at," a more passive and constantly wanting state of mind with no real state of satisfaction.

      I stopped all that and limit my online actvities and am much happier. The obsession of keeping up with various newsfeeds and comments is crap IMHO.

  • Goddammit, so depression is another thing I miss out on by not frittering my time away tweeting, instacrapping, or facebooking.

    How am I supposed to get a good, honest depression going without using these time-wasting shithole sites?

    Maybe I'll just have to resign myself to being happy.

  • There are that many?

    If they all report news, I imagine those people quickly realize that everyone is withholding facts or just making things up as they go.

  • Apart from the study was studying and what this episode portrays, Nosedive is very telling of how many people view, treat and are affected by social media.

  • Of course. Slashdot's turned me into a raging psychopath bipolar who wants to kill you all.
    Nah, just kidding, I love you guys.
    Seriously though.
    Nah, I like talking to you all.
    But I mean, come on!
  • Those who are on social networks are already suffering from depression.
    Those who are on multiple networks are multiply suffering for multiple depressions.
    Rise our eyes from your tiny screen: there a whole REAL world out there:

    Out there
    Theres a world outside of Yonkers
    Way out there beyond this hick town
    Barnaby

    • That sounds an awful lot like saying "Things aren't so bad. Why don't you just cheer up? You can decide that you'll be happy" to a depressive. It's one of the few things that provokes an instant anger response in me, because I've had experience with people telling me that and I know it's complete BS..

  • "Depressed people use multiple social networks" - maybe using so many social networks is a form of therapy that is actually positive.

  • I guess no more Slashdot then

  • So ... (Score:2)

    by PPH ( 736903 )

    ... I should stock to 4chan /pol/ exclusively?

  • My experience with Millennials is that they're depressed and anxiety-wracked (and angsty, and so totally emo) to start with. I think what's really going on here is that being on multiple 'social media' platforms just makes this fact very obvious (and painfully so to everyone else who has to be subjected to it). True, they should get off social media, stop being NEETs, get jobs, and do something useful with their time, other than whine and complain about 'tfw no gf' and 'I'm a manlet, should I kill myself?'

  • I know I'm an old man now, and not technically a millennial (just barely, thank god), but who can possibly use 11 different social media platforms? How do that many even exist? Unless you're counting every random forum a person could ever participate in. Is Slashdot a "social media platform?" I sure as hell don't think so. Do they consider YouTube a social media platform? When I think social media, I think Facebook, Google+, and Twitter (and if I really stretch, Diaspora/GNUSocial). Maybe shit like I

  • Using social networking quickly exposes one to the mentally ill trolls, climate deniers, generally ignorant folks and opinionated know-how nothing's who you normally would be able to easily avoid IRL. That can be depressing. So much stupid.

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