Teens who take in a lot of social media and television can have more symptoms of depression, a new long-term study finds.
Published in JAMA Pediatrics in July, researchers found that when teens — who are already heavy users of social media and streaming television — increased their screen time, they had more depressive symptoms. Teens especially experienced lower self-esteem.
Over the course of four years, researchers from Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal asked nearly 4,000 high school students ages 12 to 16 about their screen time and depression. While other research has linked social media and TV use to depression, the new study is the first to follow youth for such a long period of time.
“It is not the fact that they spend 6-7 hours in front of screen,” Elroy Boers, PhD, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Montreal and lead author of the study told The Nation’s Health. “It is the all about the content.”
When consuming media, teens compare themselves to what they see on their screens, researchers noted. And when they repeatedly see attractive, wealthy people on Instagram or people having fun on Facebook, they may start to feel badly about themselves by comparison.
The design of social media and streaming television can make the problem worse, Boers noted.
“Social media and television run on certain algorithms that remember your search and selection behavior and that suggest content based on this behavior,” he said.
The relationship between depression and social media can create a spiral effect. Teens with depression are more likely to seek out content that reinforces their emotional state. And the more they seek it out, the more media algorithms are likely to serve them content that makes them feel badly, creating a feedback loop.
The first line of defense against the negative effects of social media and television programming is parents, Boers says.
“Parents talk with their teens about alcohol use, smoking, driving safely and drug use,” he said. “However, conversations about the negative effects of exposure to certain content on social media and television appear to be less straightforward.”
Not all screen time is negative, the study found. Researchers found that just watching television on its own was associated with less depression symptoms. However, if someone who watched a lot of television started to increase their TV uptake, that was linked with more symptoms.
The study also looked at video games, but found they were not associated with depression. Video games are frequently played online and feature multiplayer elements, so gamers may not be as socially isolated as they are with social media or TV, the researchers suggested.
For more information on the study, visit http://bit.ly/2KikDWJ.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
