Adults who frequently post on social media are at more risk of developing mental health problems than those who passively view social media content, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.
The study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, investigated how different types of social media use might affect the mental health of adults over time.
After analysing data from over 15,000 UK adults, over the age of 16, who participated in the UK longitudinal survey, 'Understanding Society', the researchers found that frequent posting on social media was associated with increased mental health problems a year later.
However, simply viewing social media content did not have the same effect.
Additionally, those who both frequently viewed and posted on social media had higher levels of mental health issues compared to those who rarely used social media. Results did not vary for age or gender.
Lead author, Dr Ruth Plackett (UCL Epidemiology & Health), said: "These findings suggest that 'active' social media use activities, particularly posting, may have a more significant impact on mental health than 'passive' use, such as viewing content.
"This may be because posting on social media can lead to negative interactions or cause anxiety about others' judgments.
"This highlights the need for awareness about how different social media activities can affect mental wellbeing."
Mental health was measured using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) scores, which are a sum of participants' responses to questions about their mental health.
Participants were asked 12 questions on subjects, such as whether they had recently had issues concentrating, sleeping, or feeling under strain. Each question is scored from 0 to 3, resulting in a total score from 0 to 36. Higher GHQ-12 scores indicated higher levels of psychological distress.
Those who posted daily on social media had more mental health problems in the following year, equating to a 0.35 points increase in GHQ score.
Meanwhile, those who frequently viewed and posted on social media scored 0.31 points higher in the GHQ in the following year, compared to those who rarely viewed or posted on social media.
While these are modest increases in mental health problems, the new research underscores the importance of developing strategies to mitigate the potentially negative impacts of social media use and promote healthier digital habits.
Dr Plackett added: "Evidence shows that social media use can have both positive and negative effects on our mental health, and more research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying these patterns to inform targeted interventions and policies.
"We are still uncertain about who is most negatively affected by social media and why, as well as who benefits from its use. Understanding these factors will enable us to provide better guidance on healthy digital habits and inform social media companies and policymakers about which specific aspects of social media require further attention."
The research was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and supported by NIHR ARC North Thames.
Study limitations
The measures of social media activities were based on a self-reported survey measures, which may potentially lead to memory bias and inaccuracies and did not capture other kinds of active social media activities such as private messaging on social media which may have positive impacts on mental health. This was an observational study, so it is not possible to conclude that posting on social media causes later mental health problems but they are related.
