A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents

TLDR

Online social media are increasingly integral to daily life but are blamed for increasing mental health problems among younger people. The review aimed to synthesize evidence on how social media use affects depression, anxiety, and psychological distress in adolescents and to highlight the need for further qualitative and longitudinal studies. The authors searched PsycINFO, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and SSCI, identifying 13 eligible cross‑sectional studies that categorized social media use into time spent, activity, investment, and addiction. All four domains of social media use were associated with increased depression, anxiety, and psychological distress, though the cross‑sectional design and sampling limitations temper these findings.

Abstract

While becoming inextricable to our daily lives, online social media are blamed for increasing mental health problems in younger people. This systematic review synthesized evidence on the influence of social media use on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. A search of PsycINFO, Medline, Embase, CINAHL and SSCI databases reaped 13 eligible studies, of which 12 were cross-sectional. Findings were classified into four domains of social media: time spent, activity, investment and addiction. All domains correlated with depression, anxiety and psychological distress. However, there are considerable caveats due to methodological limitations of cross-sectional design, sampling and measures. Mechanisms of the putative effects of social media on mental health should be explored further through qualitative enquiry and longitudinal cohort studies.