Does Social Media Cause Depression?

Social media applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and more have become an icon of modern times alongside the internet itself, Facebook being the largest social media platform in the world with nearly a third of the world’s population having profiles on the website. As the popularity of the internet grew, depression and mood disorders among adolescents have steadily risen, becoming the most lethal affliction to young people in the developed world. Research on social media use has concluded over and over again that as social media use rises, so does the number of cases of depression and mood disorders. The correlation is clear, however the unanswered question remains: Why? Does excessive social media use cause depression, or do depressed people tend to use social media excessively? In order to attempt to answer these questions, we must look at how social media applications hijack human psychology. Almost every social media platform is in the business of keeping its users online as long as possible in order to deliver as many advertisements to individuals as possible. To achieve this goal, social media applications use addiction triggers to reward individuals for staying online longer. In the same way that dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for feelings of reward and pleasure, is released when gamblers gamble or when alcoholics drink, social media applications are littered with dopamine release triggers. One researcher had this to say about socia...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Children and Teens Communication Depression Inspiration & Hope Research Self-Esteem Self-Help Technology Adolescence approval seeking Comparison Destructive Behavior Dopamine emotional contagion Friendship Neuroscience Rewa Source Type: blogs