Social media associated with depression & anxiety

In January 2012, almost 700,000 users unknowingly became experimental subjects, when they had their Facebook feed altered in an attempt to manipulate their emotional state.

More recently, it has come to light that (ethically questionable experiments aside) social media is associated with undesirable mental health consequences, depression & low self-esteem among them:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2015/04/08/new-study-links-facebook-to-depression-but-now-we-actually-understand-why/

https://medium.com/@katikrause/facebook-s-mental-health-problem-9c48374c1bd8#.tn9uy7hrj

http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/social-media-overuse-teen-anxiety/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-08/wellbeing-survey-finds-teens-feeling-left-out-on-social-media/6921780 / irony Facebook social network linked undesirable mental health consequences depression low self-esteem bitter jealousy new study Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology Facebook depressive symptoms go hand-in-hand mediating factor well-established psychological phenomenon social comparison making comparisons our most humdrum moments our friends highlight reels vacation montages cute baby pics what links Facebook time depressive symptoms together time to cut down on Facebook adjust our attitude new study University of Houston researchers queried people Facebook use social comparisons compared with others how often experienced depressive symptoms people who used Facebook more have more depressive symptoms social comparison mediating factor for men doesn’t mean Facebook causes depression depressed feelings lots of time on Facebook comparing oneself to others hand in hand study author doctoral candidate Mai-Ly Steers doesn’t mean Facebook causes depression depressed feelings lots of time on Facebook comparing oneself to others go hand in hand study author doctoral candidate Mai-Ly Steers study face-to-face research social comparison found that upward social comparisons looking at someone more popular attractive than yourself make people feel worse downward comparisons comparing yourself someone lower grades than you make people feel better about themselves new study difference asking people how they felt viewed other people’s posts when I was on Facebook felt less confident what I have achieved compared to other people people logged more Facebook time more depressive symptoms social comparison in any direction mediator both sexes making upward downward neutral social comparison all linked greater likelihood for depressive symptoms /