People diagnosed with depression or with more severe depressive symptoms show a clear tendency to post more frequently the day after receiving many "Likes" on social media, according to a new study. The analysis suggests that social validation gained on social media may act as an important reward for people who are depressed.
A research team at Princeton University in the United States published the findings on the 9th in JAMA Psychiatry, a journal of the American Medical Association. The researchers analyzed more than 17 million posts written by 7,736 users of X, formerly Twitter, to examine how "Likes" affect subsequent posting behavior.
Unlike previous research that simply compared the impact of social media usage time on mental health, this study is distinctive in that it tracked changes in user behavior based on actual usage records. In particular, it focused on what is known as the "reinforcement" effect, in which "Likes" received the previous day lead users to write more posts the next day.
Three different types of data were used in the analysis. The first included posting records of 1,045 X users who publicly disclosed their own depression diagnosis and 5,001 general users. The remaining two data sets analyzed results of depression symptom surveys conducted on 1,690 online participants along with their social media activity.
As a result, all three data sets consistently confirmed a tendency for those diagnosed with depression or with more severe depressive symptoms to post more frequently the day after receiving many "Likes." In particular, in one data set, this phenomenon was distinctly observed only in the group with anxiety and depressive tendencies.
This is somewhat different from previous laboratory studies suggesting that depression patients are insensitive to rewards. The researchers explained that in actual online environments, social validation such as "Likes" may work in a different way from ordinary monetary rewards. They also raised the possibility that people who do not receive sufficient social support offline may show behavior aimed at compensating for it on social media.
With the number of social media users worldwide recently surpassing 5 billion, research surrounding the relationship between social media and mental health has continued steadily. However, no clear conclusion has been reached so far, as studies claiming that social media use increases depression have conflicted with those claiming it strengthens social connection and benefits mental health.
The research team saw the possibility that these differences stemmed from previous research methods that relied on surveys dependent on users' memory or simply compared social media usage time. Analyzing actual usage data allows for more specific confirmation of which behaviors and which rewards within social media are linked to mental health, they said.
Dr. Dan Mircea Mirea, who led the study, said, "To understand mental health, we need to look not only at laboratory studies but also at the behavior people show in their actual lives." He added, "This study may provide clues to understanding how social rewards on social media affect mental health."
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