How do social media affect teenagers with mental disorders?

Scientists from Cambridge University have discovered that teenagers with mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression, spend more time on social media and experience different emotions from it than their peers without such problems. This is especially true for so-called "internal" disorders.

Teenagers with such conditions more often experience mood swings due to likes and comments, compare themselves to other users, and admit that they lose control over the time spent online.

The study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, covered 3,340 teenagers aged 11 to 19 years. The authors note that the work became one of the first to use clinical assessments of mental health to analyze online behavior.

It was found that teenagers with mental difficulties spend on average 50 minutes more per day on social media. They more often complain about feelings of loneliness, lack of virtual friends, and an increasing sense of insecurity from constant comparisons.

"Although our research does not prove that social media causes mental disorders, we see that teenagers with such problems use them differently," emphasized lead author Louise Fassi.

Scientists suggest that the mental state of teenagers can affect their digital behavior - and vice versa, the use of social media itself may exacerbate problems.