Lauren White

Dr. Bartlett

English 250 RM

1 April 2019

How is Facebook linked to Depression within Teenagers?

What I Knew

Today, we are constantly seeing people on their phones. These people may be texting,

calling, or on one of their many social media apps. Social media is taking over teenagers' lives

because we are frequently checking out the new content on social media platforms. With social

media, we can see our friends, acquaintances, and famous people's posts. Unfortunately, when

we see these Facebook posts, we automatically think of how much fun they are having, why

wasn’t I invited, or noticing photoshop or certain edits. All these factors contribute to issues

surrounding depression around teenagers.

Since I am a teenager today, I do have knowledge with all the different forms of social

media. But of course, I could become more intelligence in this field so I can help myself and

others around me understand the correlation between Facebook and depression. The main

question that I would like to understand after completing this study would be, is the relationship

between the amount of time you spend on Facebook each day plays a role in the individuals

depressive feeling? On top of that, I would like to understand how professionals measure if an

individual has depressive feelings or other feelings while on Facebook. Lastly, I would like to

see a study being done within the relationship between Facebook and depression. After learning
about these important ideas, I will be able to encourage my friends and myself how Facebook

plays a role with the feelings of depression.

Why I’m Writing This Paper

As a society, we have seen a rise with the concern of social media related issues

revolving around mental health. There are an abundant of social media accounts that many

people have, such as Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. This relates to me because I

have had social media since I was in middle school. Therefore, seeing posts from “friends” or

famous people that cause feelings of depression or envy. For instance, seeing a group of

acquaintances posting on Facebook about their day can cause lots of emotions. Feelings such as

doubt, anger, jealousy, FOMO, plus more can happen just from scrolling through a social

networking site.

When it comes to posting on my own social media accounts, I have lots of fears before

and after a photo is out on the internet. I have difficulties posting on Facebook because I

overthink everything about the picture, caption or wondering what others will think. I always

need to get reassurance from friends or family members before posting a simple photo. Once the

photo is out on a social networking site, seeing people who like or comment on the photo can

either be reassuring or have a negative impact. Mental health is extremely important for college

students to understand because we will be able to distinguish if our friends or ourselves need to

get help. For instance, mental health symptoms can be in slight measure, such as always being

tired, not eating, not wanting to go out in public, etc. Being aware of other students, friends, and

teachers around us is crucial because they too could have mental health problems as well.

The Search
 During the search for my documented essay was quite difficult in the beginning. I had a

general idea with what I wanted to discuss; something related to mental health and social media.

Unfortunately, it took me quite some time to narrow down this broad idea. I started searching

key ideas on google such as social media related to mental health, Instagram related to

depression, Instagram and anxiety, etc. I was finding some valid information with how Instagram

is related to depression. But later I started searching on google scholar how Facebook is related

to depression or anxiety. I found the most information and articles that would be beneficial to my

research within how Facebook and depression are linked.

Most of the articles that I found were discussing that the target audience of this issue was

teenagers. In 2015, Edson Tandoc Jr., Patrick Ferrucci and Margaret Duffy published the article,

“Facebook uses, envy, and depression among college students: Is Facebook depressing?” I was

able to use this source within my research because it covered topics of Facebook usage and the

depressive scale. The next source I found was relatively old, but the information found was

extremely useful in my research. The article “Feeling Bad on Facebook: depression disclosures

by college students on social networking sites”, written by Megan Moreno, shows a study done

by the University of Wisconsin, how depressive symptoms were shown on college students

Facebook page. The third, the article written by C.R Blease called “Too Many ‘Friends, ‘Too

Few Likes?’ Evolutionary Psychology and ‘Facebook Depression’ discussed the importance of

the amount of time you spend on the internet. Lauren Jelenchick, Jens Eickhoff and Megan

Moreno published an article “Facebook Depression?” Social Networking Site Use and

Depression in older adolescents”, explores the amount of time you are spending on social

networking sites. Finally, in 2019, the article “Is social network site usage related to depression?

A meta-analysis of Facebook-depression relations” written by Sinkyung Yoon, Mary Kleinman,

Jessica Mertz and Michael Brannick discussed the importance of ‘Facebook depression’ and

frequency of checking social media. Although the search processes haven’t been an easy one, I

found an abundant of wonderful sources that will help me answer my question.

What I Learned

The amount of information that I have learned from this research process is incredible.

Understanding the link between Facebook and depression was eye opening for me. Today, most

individuals are on the internet for hours each day. There is a connection between the amount of

time that you are on social media and having feelings of depression. A recent study showed the

severity of depression based on the number of hours that you are on the Facebook. For instance,

there were 1,300 participants that took place in this study; researchers noticed that users who

spent 4 hours or more on the social media were significantly more likely to be moderately or

severely depressed (Blease). This is extremely important for us to acknowledge because we are

constantly on social media every day. Comprehending this information is beneficial to society,

so individuals can make changes to the amount of time that they are on Facebook.

In 2017, Facebook reached approximately 2 billion active users. With that, we notice

that all age groups have access to social media platforms. This concern is critical for

professionals, therefore labeling this as ‘Facebook depression’. Essentially, this idea was

proposed when an abundant of minors developed depressive symptoms after experiencing a large

amount of exposure to social networking sites. Individuals who have feelings of ‘Facebook

depression’ often are linked to a low positive and high negative mood while on social media for

long periods of time. Also, minors have a high checking frequency while on social networking

sites (Yoon, Mertz, Brannick). If individuals notice any signs in friends or family member make

sure how they are doing.

 Next, the depression scale is important for doctors to understand the symptoms of

individuals that have a depressive disorder. Individuals are given 20 items that ask specific

questions based off the symptoms of depression. Some of the items that are includes on this test

are “I was bothered by things that don’t usually bother me” or “I felt that everything I did was an

effort”. The individuals would rate these questions with one of the following; rarely or none,

some or a little of the time, occasionally or a moderate amount of time, or most or all the time

(Duffey, Ferrucci, Tandoc). Learning about the depression scale is important for everyone to

know about because if you see friends or family members on Facebook displaying these

symptoms you will be able to help them.

A feeling that humans often feel while on Facebook is envy. College students that feel

envy towards individuals while on Facebook often have a negative life satisfaction and could

potentially lead to depression. For instance, scholars have discovered that one of the most

common consequences of envy is consuming others’ personal information on Facebook (Duffey,

Ferrucci, Tandoc). This issue is important because people that are heavy Facebook users tend to

feel higher levels of envy. Since adult adolescents are on Facebook for long periods of time each

day, there rate for feeling depressed is high as well. In society today, people are putting their

feelings and ideas out on Facebook; whether it's a cry for help or a potential seek for attention.

It’s always important to recognize these individuals because they might truly need help.

A study from the University of Wisconsin was conducted on July 1, 2009, through

October 1, 2010 to check the number of depressive symptoms that were on college students

Facebook page. The researchers chose 200 college students who have finished their sophomore

or junior year at a university. The coders evaluated the user's profile, status updates and status

updates that disclosed a depressive symptom. Overall, the coders found that 25% of profiles
disclosed one or more depressive status updates within this experiment. Some keywords that

were used in this experiment were “can’t get anything done”, “sad face emotion” or “sleeping

too much” (2011 Moreno). Generally, this is important for college students to understand

because when we are on Facebook and notice these slight warning signs, it would be intelligent

to reach out to this individual to see if they need anything.

Overall, after analyzing these studies and research found, I can determine that Facebook

is linked to depression within teenagers. Understanding the amount of time spent on Facebook,

feelings of envy, the depression scale, ‘Facebook depression’ and research studies was

beneficial. Since completing my research, I have been able to apply this data to my own life and

others around me. With these tools, I have been aware with the amount of time that I am

spending on social media each day. This research process hasn’t been an easy one, but definitely

was well worth it in the end.

 Work Cited
Blease, C. R. “Too Many 'Friends,' Too Few 'Likes'? Evolutionary Psychology and 'Facebook

Depression'.” SAGE Journals, 1 Mar. 2015,

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1037/gpr0000030.

Jelenchick, Lauren A., et al. “‘Facebook Depression?" Social Networking Site Use and

Depression in Older Adolescents.” Journal of Adolescent Health, Elsevier, 7 July 2012,

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X12002091.

Moreno, Megan A., et al. “Feeling Bad on Facebook: Depression Disclosures by College

Students on a Social Networking Site.” Depression and Anxiety, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd,

11 Mar. 2011, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/da.20805.

Tandoc , Edson C., et al. “Facebook Use, Envy, and Depression among College Students: Is

Facebooking Depressing?” Computers in Human Behavior, Pergamon, 20 Nov. 2014,

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563214005767.

Yoon, Sunkyung, et al. “Is Social Network Site Usage Related to Depression? A Meta-Analysis

of Facebook–Depression Relations.” Journal of Affective Disorders, Elsevier, 27 Jan.

2019, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032718321700.