Chennai: Long-term use of social media is associated with depressive symptoms, says a recent study by Lancet. The study’s findings highlight the potential pitfalls of lengthy social media use on young people’s mental health.
The study was performed on 10,904 individuals aged 14 and above, to assess whether social media use leads to depressive symptoms in adolescents due to various factors such as online harassment, sleep deprivation, self-esteem and body image.
The study revealed that the magnitude of depressive symptoms was larger among girls than boys. When comparing daily social media use for 1-3 hours, girls exhibited 26 per cent of depressive symptoms and boys 21 per cent. In case of 3-5 hours of daily social media use, girls exhibited around 50 per cent of depressive symptoms and boys 35 per cent.
The study revealed that greater social media use related to online harassment, poor sleep, low self-esteem and poor body image that subsequently led to higher depressive
symptoms. Common instances of low self-esteem because of body-weight dissatisfaction led to a depressive score of about 31 per cent.
Doctors say that excessive social media usage affects social relationships and participation in community life. It also leads to altered perception about happiness,
personality of others and can impact an individual’s self-esteem. It can also hamper circadian rhythms and disrupt sleep cycles and in due course lead to chemical imbalances in brain, leading to psychological issues.
The findings are highly relevant for developing guidelines for the safe use of social media and calls on the industry to more tightly regulate hours spent on social media.
“It’s not social media use but excessive social media use that leads to depressive symptoms,”said psychiatrist Dr. Vivian Kapil. “Adolescents have social anxiety and exhibit their emotions, views and opinions by communicating to people on social media. As adolescents start excess use of social media, their social interaction time gets reduced and they spend more time alone. Decreased social interaction also cuts off the channel to vent out problems and emotions to the family, as the youngsters don’t spend quality family time.
With an impact of social media on social life, the incidence of anxiety and depression is increasing among the adolescents.”
