According to a Malaysian study, excessive Facebook use is hazardous to depressed individuals, worsening their current and future depression severity. The findings, published in ‘Computers in Human Behavior,’ also imply that excessive use of Facebook can reduce a person’s feeling of self-worth.
Findings are consistent with previous research demonstrating that excessive Facebook use can be harmful to people seeking medical care to address depression and other mental health disorders.
The findings of studies like this have given rise to the phrase “Facebook depression,” which describes depression caused by extended use of it.
Addiction vs. time spent
The study discovered that it is not time spent on Facebook that causes depression. Instead, it indicates that the addictive use of the platform is the most harmful to an individual’s well-being.
Facebook addiction and self-criticism are indicators of depression severity
According to the findings, Facebook addiction can predict depression severity via two unique depressive experiences: reliance and self-criticism. An average user spends almost an hour on the site every day, according to data provided by the company last year.
“We have an increasing reliance on technology since we rely on it so extensively to efficiently conduct our lives,” study author Sun Li Lee, a psychology lecturer at Monash University Malaysia, told neuroscience news website Psypost.
“This makes it integral to understand how this reliance affects our well-being, both physically and psychologically. Understanding how it affects those with clinical diagnoses is important as well, as most studies were conducted with healthy young adults.”
250 Malaysian users who had been diagnosed with depression took part in the study.
According to the study, those who used Facebook more addictively experienced more salient depressing experiences and more severe depression. According to the study, the link between Facebook addiction and sadness was mediated through dependency and self-criticism.
“It will be helpful to monitor the use of Facebook for those with clinical depression, as findings suggest such usage will increase the severity of depression,” Lee said.
