Study: Facebook has a negative impact on the psyche of young people

A causal link has been found between Facebook and the deterioration of the mental state of its users. A study by scientists from Tel Aviv University found that their anxiety and depression progressed.

After studying the emotional state of college students, scientists from Tel Aviv found a correlation between the use of social networks and various symptoms associated with mental health deterioration. Researchers have obtained similar findings before, but it was difficult to establish whether social media was the cause of mental deterioration. Using a new research method provided data that confirmed the negative impact of Facebook on the psyche of American students.

Data was used from the period of the original inception of Facebook in 2004 and before it conquered the whole Internet. Initially, Facebook was only available to Harvard students. It later spread to other colleges in the U.S. and beyond, becoming a public network in September 2006. Researchers were able to analyze the impact of social media use by comparing institutions of higher education that had access to the platforms and those that did not.

It turned out that the universities that had access to the network had an increase in the number of students reporting severe depression and anxiety. The mental health of adolescents and young adults in the United States has deteriorated significantly over the past 15 years. It has been hypothesized that this may be due to unfavorable social comparisons. And social media is precisely the platform where young people are constantly comparing themselves to others.