Using social media platforms for long periods has little to no association with mental health indicators like depression, anxiety and stress, according to new research. However, another recently published study found that men risk developing unhealthy obsessions with physique if they place too much importance on likes and comments.
Like so many things available to us in today’s fast-paced society, our use of social media has garnered its fair share of criticism. Over the years, studies have concluded that excessive social media exposure keeps us awake, makes us depressed, and might be changing our kids’ brains.
Well, now researchers from Curtin University’s School of Population Health in Australia may have returned some of the shine to social media. In a new study, they found little to no relationship between heavy social media use and indicators of mental health such as depression, anxiety, and stress.
“If we are going to make well-informed decisions in this space, it needs to be based on quality data and our research demonstrates when you objectively measure time spent on social media, the effects are tiny or non-existent,” said PhD candidate and the lead author of the study Chloe Jones.
Because different social networking sites offer diverse content and platform-specific features and interactions, the researchers separately examined the relationship between psychological distress and the most widely-used platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter/X, and TikTok. They also looked at social media’s effect on attentional control or the ability to voluntarily allocate attention to specific stimuli while ignoring distractions (read: concentration).
A total of 425 participants were recruited for the study. The sample was 74.7% female and had an average age of a little over 22 years. Rather than relying on self-reports, the researchers objectively measured social media use by examining the time the participants spent using TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter/X on a personal smartphone over the course of one week.
They used the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), a set of three self-report scales, to measure the emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress and to measure participants’ overall psychological distress. Attentional control was measured via an antisaccade task. In this task, participants must suppress the reflexive urge to look at a visual target that suddenly appears in the peripheral vision and must instead look away in the opposite direction. (Saccades are quick, jerky movements of the eyes to reposition the line of sight on a new object of interest.)
When they compared social media usage against the participants’ levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and attentional control, the researchers found that social media use was very weakly associated with anxiety and not associated with depression or stress. They found a weak positive association between use and attentional control, suggesting that increased social media use was linked with slightly better concentration.
“[W]hile all of the associations were weak at best, the study found different platforms recorded different effects," said Patrick Clarke, a clinical psychologist and lecturer in psychology at Curtin and the study’s senior author. "TikTok usage saw a small positive association with attentional control, while Facebook usage saw a small association with distress among users. We did consider the age of users – we thought maybe TikTok users are just younger, and that’s why they have better attentional control – but even when allowing for age, that association was still there.”
The researchers point out that their study only looked at time spent using social media and not what participants were looking at.
“This study only considered the amount of time participants spent on social media, so what this research could be flagging is how long we spend on social media might matter less for mental health, as opposed to how we’re using it and engaging with it,” said Clarke.
And they were keen to stress that the findings don’t suggest that social media use is harmless or has no impact on mental health. They understand that the relationship between the two is a complex one.
“For example, a connection to a supportive online community could be a lifeline for people living in isolation, but hours of scrolling Instagram influencers could be really unhelpful if you have body image concerns,” Jones said.
On that issue, another recently published Australian study examined the social media platforms TikTok and Instagram and found that they were fueling men’s unrealistic and unhealthy obsessions with obtaining a lean, muscular physique.
Previous studies have suggested that men who place higher importance on receiving likes and positive comments on their posts are significantly more likely to experience symptoms of ‘muscle dysmorphia’ (MD), a belief that their bodies are small and weak, even though they are actually large and muscular. University of South Australia (UniSA) researchers conducted an online survey of 95 Australian men aged between 18 and 34 to ascertain whether there was a relationship between appearance-based feedback on celebrity, fashion, and fitness social media sites and body image concerns.
They used the muscle dysmorphic disorder inventory (MDDI) to measure the participants’ MD symptoms. Items on the MDDI are rated on a five-point scale, with higher scores indicating greater symptom severity. Total scores range between 13 and 65; a score over 39 indicates a risk of MD. They also asked participants how many hours a day they used social media and the number of workouts they had each week.
Participants reported using social media for more than two hours a day and engaged in an average of three workout sessions a week. The researchers found that 19% of participants scored above 39 on the MDDI, suggesting that they were at significant risk of holding unrealistic ideals about their bodies. They also found that the importance of received likes and comments significantly predicted MD symptoms more so than demographic factors such as age, ethnicity and sexual orientation.
“Previous research has largely focused on women, but we’re now seeing that men are also vulnerable to the pressures of online body ideals,” said Luigi Donnarumma, a UniSA psychology graduate and the study’s lead author. “Muscle dysmorphia is an emerging issue, and our study shows that social media isn’t just a platform for sharing content: it’s a powerful source of social validation that can significantly impact how young men perceive their bodies.”
The researchers say their findings highlight the need for greater awareness of the psychological risks associated with social media use.
“Men are often exposed to hyper-muscular ideals online, particularly through fitness and celebrity content,” said study co-author and UniSA psychology lecturer John Mingoia. “When these posts attract a high volume of likes and positive comments, they reinforce the message that this is the body standard that men should strive for. Over time, this can lead to harmful behaviors such as excessive exercising, restricted eating, and even steroid use.”
The Curtin University study was published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, while the University of South Australia study was published in New Media & Society.