Over the last few years, there has been an increase in the prevalence of mental health issues, and it just so happens that it was around the time when social media platforms were starting to emerge. The alignment justifies why people believe that online platforms are to blame for the crisis, yet studies show that's not the case.
Facebook Did Not Cause It
Researchers started studying the correlation between social media and psychological harm, specifically, the part that Facebook played in it. After looking into the issue closely, experts believe that the social networking site was not the problem at all.
Practicing at the Oxford Internet Institute, the researchers stated that they found no evidence to support the claim that Facebook was linked to the growing mental health crisis in several countries. The outcome goes against the common belief and previous studies that have been conducted.
A professor at the institute and co-author of the said study, Andrew Przybylski says that they have examined the best available social media data carefully, which came from different countries in the year bracket between 2008 to 2019 and was provided by Meta.
They clarified that the research was entirely independent and was not influenced by the tech giant at all. As for the well-being data, the researchers based it on the previous Gallup World Poll Survey where 946,798 respondents participated.
The research found that it did not support the idea of Facebook relating to harm, as mentioned in Gizmodo. On the contrary, the results of the study even suggest that Facebook is "possibly related to positive well-being."
If not a positive influence, the study at least showed that in the mentioned time period, the well-being and satisfaction based on the used daya remained stable. The study also showed that countries with higher average daily active users had more positive experiences.
Fellow researcher and co-author, Matti Vuorre said that they cover the broadest possible geography for the first time and analyzed Facebook usage data overlaid with robust well-being data, as the report says.
Social Media Taking the Hit
Anyone who has spent a few hours on social networking sites would also deduce that it might play a huge part in the rise of mental health issues. After all, cyberbullying is still a huge concern on these platforms until now.
What people fail to consider is that not everything should be taken at face value. According to a study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, it serves as compensation for decreasing face-to-face social interactions in people's busy lives.
Social networking sites have also been a platform that helped people find communities that they can relate to. As online connections break certain geographical or cultural barriers, people have more means to find others that would understand their situation.
Addressing the time that people spend on social media, the Harvard study also noted that the ways people are using social media have more of an impact on their mental health and well-being than just the frequency and duration of use.
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