Futurism reports, “As a new education and public policy study reveals, young adults across multiple personality types who begin using social media for five hours or more per day — which is a long time to be staring at a screen, but not atypical in our plugged-in world — are very likely to develop depression within six months of such elevated usage.
“At the heart of the findings, by researchers at the University of Arkansas, the University of Alabama, and Oregon State University, is the concept of “problematic social comparison.”
In layman’s terms, that’s the crappy feeling you get when you look at other people’s glamorous lives and feel like yours isn’t living up.
“Online, that phenomenon “can enhance negative feelings of oneself and others, which could explain how the risk of depression increases with increased social media use,” reads a University of Arkansas press release about the study.
“Engaging primarily in negative content can also enhance these feelings.” Social media usage also tends to isolate people, the study suggests, because it “reduces opportunities for in-person interactions and activities outside of the home.”
The Daily Briefing adds:
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