Actively interact with people than passive scrolling on social media; latter is more harmful to mental health

New York, December 16: “Depression”, a word which has become a highly used one among young generation. A teenage with sad eyes often says “I’m depressed.” Many psychologists say overuse of social media is a reason for declining mental health among youth. Now social media giant Facebook has itself warned about the emotional and mental toll the social network takes on its addicts.

Facebook says - In one experiment, University of Michigan students randomly assigned to read Facebook for 10 minutes were in a worse mood at the end of the day than students assigned to post or talk to friends on Facebook. A study from UC San Diego and Yale found that people who clicked on about four times as many links as the average person, or who liked twice as many posts, reported worse mental health than average in a survey.

As a reason to it social media giant says though the causes aren’t clear, researchers hypothesize that reading about others online might lead to negative social comparison — and perhaps even more so than offline, since people’s posts are often more curated and flattering. Another theory is that the internet takes people away from social engagement in person.

Though the company has admitted the negativity, it is obviously emphasized on its good side too. It has said active interaction with people , especially sharing messages, posts and comments with close friends and reminiscing about past interactions is linked to improvements in well-being. The community feeling makes us happier, Facebook wanted to convey this message.