How Does Social Media Affect Mental Health?

TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, then back to TikTok again. Sound familiar? Many of us spend a lot of time scrolling social media — but it doesn’t always leave us feeling that good mentally.

So, how does social media affect mental health exactly? It can trigger feelings of anxiety, depression, loneliness, poor body image, and FOMO (fear of missing out), just to name a few of the negative effects of social media.

Below, we answer your questions about social media and mental health and share tips on how to switch up your social media use to improve your mental health.

While social media affects us all differently, there’s evidence that it’s not always a good thing for us. Though it can offer a source of self-expression and a social networking opportunities, there are a number of potential impacts of social media on mental health that it can have as well.

Anxiety

A 2023 review looked at 77 papers on mental health and social media. It concluded that “social media use is often associated with depression and anxiety.”

How does social media cause anxiety? There’s no clear-cut answer, but another 2023 study surveyed 29 students and found many potential causes. These included:

• Increased comparison — either with friends, influencers, or celebrities

• Feeling like you should have done something more productive with your time than scroll social media

• Getting overwhelmed by the number of notifications or feeling the need to respond quickly to people

• Feeling judged or anxious if a post doesn’t receive many likes

It’s not all bad news, though. The same study found that social media can decrease anxiety levels in some cases.

For example, participants said this positive effect happened when:

• Social media helped them connect with friends and family

• They interacted with positive or inspiring content, like a healthy living account

• They used social media as mindless entertainment to help them relax

Depression

Sure, some social media posts can leave you feeling sad — especially if you’re doomscrolling, which is when you spend a lot of time reading bad news stories.

But does social media cause depression? It turns out, social media and depression could go hand in hand.

A 2022 meta-analysis on adolescents found that the risk of depression increased by 13 percent for each extra hour per day spent on social media.

And it’s not just teens. One study surveyed almost 1,800 adults aged 19 to 32. It found that those who were social media users the most had “significantly increased odds of depression” compared to those who used it the least.

It’s not entirely clear what causes this connection between social media and depression, but there are a few theories, including:

• You’re exposed to the “highlight reel” of people’s lives on social media, which can make you feel like everyone’s lives are better than yours, triggering feelings of envy and inferiority

• Your mood may take a hit if you feel like you’ve wasted your time on social media rather than doing something more productive

• Using social media increases your risk of cyberbullying

• Social media use can lead to an increase in loneliness

Poor Body Image

A 2023 study found that using social media can make social appearance anxiety — when you’re worried about your body image — worse.

As many people use filters or alter the images or videos they post on social media, you’re comparing your IRL face and body to the enhanced images of others. This could tank your body image and even lead to eating disorders, anxiety, or depression.

Loneliness

A 2024 study on more than 500 college students found that social media use can increase loneliness, and loneliness can increase social media use.

If you’re feeling lonely, you might turn to social media for social interaction. But the social interactions you get on social media aren't exactly that social.

A few superficial comments here and there can’t replace deep face-to-face conversations. You might feel more isolated if you spend a lot of time on social media and your IRL relationships begin to suffer.

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)

Fear of missing out — aka FOMO — is when you feel anxious about missing out on something fun.

Maybe you feel the need to constantly check social media to make sure you’re not missing any posts. Or perhaps you watch a friend’s Instagram Stories at a party while you’re sitting at home on the couch. Cue: major FOMO.

A 2018 study on more than 2,600 teens found FOMO can lead to:

• Spending more time on social media

• Using a greater number of social media platforms

• Phubbing (phone snubbing), which is when you ignore the IRL friends you’re with to check your phone

So, just like loneliness, using social media can create a vicious circle. It can trigger FOMO, which can trigger more social media use.

Addiction and Dependence

Ever get the itch to check Instagram even though you were just on there five minutes ago? You’re not alone. It’s no secret that social media can feel addictive at times.

Problematic social media use — described as a dependence on social media or the irresistible urge to use it — isn’t an officially recognized condition. But it has been put forward to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a manual clinicians and researchers use to classify mental disorders.

Problematic social media use can lead to:

• Unhappiness

• Low mood

• Low self-esteem

• Stress-related symptoms

• Social anxiety

• Anxiety and depression

Why does social media feel so addictive? One reason is dopamine — your body’s “feel good” hormone.

When you get a “like,” a new follower, or a positive comment, you get a hit of dopamine.

Because you don’t know if you’ll get a dopamine boost when you check social media, you may feel the urge to check it more often. This can lead to you checking it again and again … and again.

There are no hard-and-fast rules for when social media becomes a problem — that will look different for each of us.

But in general, look out for the following signs if you’re worried about the impact of social media on mental health:

• Coming off social media feeling worse than before you went on

• Spending a large amount of time on social media, so much so that it affects your offline relationships, work, or personal life

• Feeling pressure to get a certain number of likes or comments on a post and even considering removing a post if it doesn’t perform as well as you’d hoped

• Comparing your body, home, travel plans, achievements — anything, really — to people on social media

• Feeling the need to compulsively check social media

If you find that social media affects your mental health in a negative way, you can take steps to change that. And the good news is, you don’t need to give up social media altogether.

Here’s what you can do.

Limit Your Use

Try checking your daily screen time and gradually reducing it each day or giving yourself an upper limit of time you’re allowed to spend on social media.

Need a helping hand to stay out of a scroll hole? Use apps that lock you out of your social media accounts after a set period of time to avoid excessive use.

If you feel compelled to log on, try removing social media apps from the home screen of your phone or logging out of your accounts. This makes it harder to quickly jump on Snapchat every time you get a spare moment.

As well as your overall screen time, consider when you use social media each day. Avoiding it first thing in the morning and last thing at night could improve your mental health — and your sleep!

Take a Social Media Hiatus

As scary as it sounds, logging off from social media for a week or so could give you the mental health boost you need.

A 2024 study found taking a one-week break from social media led to improved self-esteem and body satisfaction.

That’s not all. A 2023 study found that a one-week break from social media led to significant improvements in:

• Well-being

• Anxiety

• Depression

Be Intentional About Who You Follow

It’s not just about how long you spend on social media — the content you look at can have a negative impact on your mental health as well.

Unfollow any accounts that trigger FOMO, anxiety, or poor body image for you. You know the ones. You don’t need to follow your ex’s new girlfriend or that influencer that riles you up.

Don’t want to unfollow a friend? Mute them instead.

Be sure to follow accounts that share positive content you find entertaining or inspiring.

Whether social media is causing mental health issues or mental health issues are driving your social media use, help is available.

You can consider:

• Therapy. There are many types of therapy, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which can help you break the cycle of negative thoughts and behaviors and build healthier habits. Therapy can help with mental health issues in general, or you may find it helpful to talk to a professional about the impact of social media on mental health and ways to fix it.

• Medication. If you have an anxiety disorder or depressive symptoms, medication can offer relief. Anti-anxiety medications include antidepressants, beta-blockers, and benzodiazepines. A healthcare provider can determine if medication could help you and which one would be best.

Teens and young people are especially vulnerable to the negative effects of social media. And the social media mental health statistics aren’t pretty.

A 2023 survey found that American teenagers spend an average of 4.8 hours on social media a day.

Even more worrying for teen mental health? Teens who spend more than five hours a day on social media were:

• 40 percent more likely to report a lot of sadness the previous day

• 2.4 times more likely to have a negative view of their body

• 2.5 times more likely to express suicidal thoughts or self-harm

If you’ve got a teen or young adult in your life, supervising or limiting their use of social media can help support their mental health.

We know you can’t always control how they use social media, though.

Try to build a strong relationship with your teen, and let them know that they can come to you with any questions or concerns about cyberbullying, distressing content, or any mental health issues they might be experiencing from social media. Make sure to talk to them about the importance of privacy settings and other safeguards some social media sites offer.

You can also plan screen-free activities together, foster more IRL social connections for them, or encourage them to take up a new sport or hobby. The aim here is to get them off their smartphone and into the real world a bit more.

So, is social media bad for mental health? It can be for many of us, and in many different ways.

Here are the key takeaways:

• Social media use is linked to poor mental well-being. How social media affects mental health varies from person to person, but it can trigger feelings of anxiety, depression, poor body image, loneliness, and FOMO.

• Tweaking your social media habits could help you feel better. Limiting your overall use, not scrolling in bed, taking a one-week break, and unfollowing accounts that trigger negative feelings could offer the boost you need.

• Don’t be afraid to reach out for help. You don’t need to suffer through mental health problems, whether they’re caused by social media or exacerbated by it. Therapy and, in some cases, medication can help you feel better and gain more control over your mental health.

With our online mental health services, you can find mental health treatments that suit you. You can also connect with licensed therapists online to kickstart your journey toward better mental health.

We’ll “like” that any day.