American scientists evaluated the impact of social networks on mental health among adults. It turned out that the escape from reality into the virtual space does not benefit any age subgroup. The results are published in JAMA Network Open.
Scientists have been studying the impact of social networks on physical and mental health for years, and the data obtained is sometimes very contradictory. For example, in 2017 they assessed how “likes” on Facebook affect mental well-being. It turned out that the more active the user is online, the worse he assesses his mental well-being. Other researchers argue that social media is bad for sleep quality. Still others believe that social media can improve health by increasing social circle and strengthening social bonds. At the same time, evidence is emerging that people with more Facebook friends have lower overall health scores.
The vast majority of these studies have one weakness: they were conducted in adolescents and young adults, because It is in this audience that most of the users of social networks. However, adults and older people have also started pages on popular media platforms a long time ago. Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital decided to find out how much social networks have affected the older age group.
The researchers used data from a national online survey that was conducted in 13 rounds over the course of a year and ended in May. It was attended by about 5.4 thousand Americans, whose average age was 56 years. Volunteers filled out questionnaires about how often they use social media and which platforms they prefer, as well as possible symptoms of depression.
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Signs of depression were found in 8.9% of respondents, and users of Snapchat, Facebook or TikTok reported symptoms significantly more often compared to those who were not interested in social networks. Snapchat users had the highest rates of this mental disorder, followed by Facebook and TikTok in second and third place.
Remarkably, TikTok and Snapchat had the most negative impact on participants aged 35 and over, while Facebook makes people under 35 depressed.
«We were surprised that depression rates in adult social media users were not as large as we expected. However, the use of social media during a pandemic may be necessary because people have the opportunity to communicate, otherwise they would be in complete isolation,” the authors of the study said.